The Anomic Genius
by Stinkyfish98
Summary: Just another generic Strong!Naruto fic.
1. Chapter 1

First Chapter. Forgot, I should probably include some warnings...they are as such- swearing, gore(maybe), blood(definitely), slightly darker outlook..

* * *

The day was quiet as clouds slowly set in over Konoha, sun rising gently over the seemingly peaceful village. The air was thick, and the fog that was settling in comfortably was seemingly dense enough to cut with a knife.

A boy of 5 was wandering the outskirt of the village, lingering on the forest wall, walking a few feet before coming to a sudden stop and whirling around wildly, his eyes accusing, just daring someone to be there. The pattern repeated until he sighed with heavy frustration. He knew that he was being followed, and by someone who could mask their chakra incredibly well to the point almost he couldn't detect it. He knew the person had been watching him, and he still couldn't actually see them every time he felt them come out of hiding. They were fast. Very fast and tricky. Dangerous.

He quickly felt the growing apprehension, well aware of the various attempts on his life. The sudden need to get home hit him full force, and he nonchalantly made his way to back into the city. When the stranger didn't attack he felt confused. _Why wait? It would be much easier to kill him unknowingly to the rest of the village while outside of it._ He shrugged it off and still continued to his apartment, which he had quickly rented after being thrown (literally) from the orphanage. The money was most certainly not easy to obtain...

He still felt the presence, and was so focused on it he had accidentally walked straight into the leg of one villager. He froze, and looked up to the man he had walked into; he straightened and placed his hands at his side, bowing slightly. "Gomennasai..." He spoke quietly, and uncertain, hoping the fog would hide his face to the point that he would not be recog-

"It's the Demon Child!" A sigh slipped his mouth as he slipped back into his lazy, usual walking style, hands stuffed into his _Fu-...great... _He stopped his mind-swearing, as he had come to dub it. The words he had picked up from some of the other kids in the orphanage earned him no _light_ in the eyes of the owners, and he had it beaten out of him. It had come as a realization to him that it was probably not a good thing, and he couldn't seem to stop until he did so in his mind as well.

Thus began his daily exercise, running from the villagers of Konoha. God, he _hated _them. Even with the very meager self taught skills, he knew full well he could slaughter quite a few in the group of people who chased him every day, before a shinobi showed up, at least.

So he began a run at an easy jogging pace. For him at least. Being kicked out of the orphanage two years ago left him vulnerable to the villagers who still had...resentment towards the Kyuubi, and had absolutely no understanding of seals, seeing him as the demon itself. He had been running multiple times, every day, across the entire town. He had the heart of an olympic runner, the legs of a horse, and knew multiple conditioning techniques if he ever got tired.

Then the Kyuubi, whom he had met just a year ago. Needless to say they had not given each other a good impression. The Kyuubi had basically tried to manipulate him into releasing him, and he played the stupid act, much to the (hidden) agitation of the Kyuubi. They had not talked much after that.

After 5 minutes of out running the mob by 5 feet exactly, dodging things thrown in attempt to catch him, he was cornered in an alley. he was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed them corner him, and he sighed. _Showing skills other than running would be a problem..._ The villagers took a step He towards him. _...So would being beaten..._ He looked at the villagers and his eyes widened slightly with disgust, as they cheered as they approached him.

"We got it!"

"Finally we can give this demon what it deserves."

"Skin it and hang it's corpse above the village gate as a warning to any other demons to confront us!"

He felt the bubbling, burning, murderous feeling of hatred build up within him. Then it disappeared into sorrow as he listened to them some more. "You could at least refer to my gender. I'm just an 'it', huh?" He whispered, half to himself. The feeling of hatred returned. "I'm just a demon, huh?" His voice rose, as he addressed the crowd, keeping the tone of anger out of his voice. "I'll show you what this demon can do." His voice became ice, and he let the full bearing of hatred, anger, and sorrow crash upon the mob. A wave of killing intent paled most of the mob, and froze their bones, lesser of the mob collapsed to their knees, held their head, and cried out in pain, their companions trying to help them with fail.

He had to suppress a grin, a solemn smile breaking its way onto his face. He had to admit that he felt bad seeing some of the elder men, and women, in pain. He had to lower his gaze onto the ground and closed his eyes, blocking his view of the villagers.

His eyes snapped open as he felt the presence that had been following him begin to move onto his position, fast. A gasp escaped his throat, as a man appeared in front of him, and began to reach for him, most likely to restrain him. His legs moved out of instinct and he jumped up to the wall, kicking off with enough force to propel him across to the other wall quickly, and repeated until he was on the roof, fleeing to his apartment. He could only hope that his sudden use of the skill had stunned the man, and left him to shocked too follow immediately, it was his only chance.

The yank of the back of his worn shirt nearly strangled him, and his face meeting the ceramic tile of an only fairly slanted roof made his eyes roll into the back of his head as darkness took him.

* * *

_Damn it, little boy. If it wasn't for the interference of that damn shinobi that had been tracking you, you would have been going through the transformations at this point. I could have been released! You would have slain those villagers who pester you every day, and gotten your first taste of blood... _

The Kyuubi was, to say the least, pissed. Possibly his one and only chance to escape! No, no, there would be more, he was sure of it, and calmed. Then his mind drifted to his previous thoughts, why had he cared about this boy. Sure he had wanted to escape, and he would have utilized the chance to take over amidst the boy's unconsiousness, if not for the shock of it all. He knew how the boy played stupid. He knew how the boy had let them push him around. He had definitely not expected the boy to snap like he did. His thoughts... were not calm and collected, they were all screaming to kill. A knowing smile flashed his face, as he knew he would be released soon, but deep down he knew he was worried for the boy. He was stable mental wise, but had nightmares every time he closed his eyes to rest.

_Maybe I should make those damn shinobi more aware of this fact? It would certainly be fun to watch..._

And so he did. Sending nightmares to the boys mind, which were as much as the seal allowed him to do. With remorse he watched the event play out quietly, at the back of his mind hoping that they would do something...he didn't exactly know what, he just wanted them to do _something._

* * *

The pain, coursing through his the quite vivid memories, which were in the forms of dreams, entered his mind.

_His skin burned as the cold metal slid across his skin slowly, leaving an open, bleeding wound in its wake. It was shallow, but god it hurt! He bit down hard on the rag in his mouth, any attempts scream he knew would be a waste of much needed energy, as they were currently out of the village, a fair amount into the forest which surrounded. He glanced down at the fresh blood oozing out of the second wound on his body, disregarding the numerous bruises. His head jerked to the side, and his neck screamed in response, threatening to break under the force of the hit. Darkness began to encroach the edge of his vision, and his eyes were starting to roll. No! NO! He wouldn't die like this. he straightened his vision at his attackers, three grown men with a fair amount of training as Shinobi. _

_His face hurt, and blood trickled from his mouth as his breath came in short, shallow gasps. He mentally laughed, he was like a fish gasping for air after being ripped from its natural habitat. He was dizzy and slowly began to fade as the men suddenly moved away, laughing with merriment after looking over their victim. Kill me, he wanted to groan out, but his head lolled as he slipped unconscious, the Kyuubi's chakra already starting to heal his wounds at a rapid pace, as any slower and the boy would die._

He awoke, but kept his eyes closed, the feeling of strong arms on his shoulders, and the familiar feeling of sweat quickly came to him, along with the Hokage's voice. "Hold him down, I SAID HOLD HIM DOWN!" He was slightly taken aback. He hadn't known Jiji could yell like that, and it scared him. _Could he be like the rest? No!_ He banished the thought, finally realizing he had been thrashing around from the nightmare. He settled himself, and curiously opened, his eyes, wincing at the effect of the sun shining through the window and into his eyes. Damn sun was a marksman at millions of miles away.

He turned his head to the right, and was greeted with the sight of a man wearing a Dog mask. He blinked in recognition. _ANBU. Jiji's office... _He turned his head to the left and was greeted with the worried face of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage. Most would consider it an honor to have the worried face of the Hokage hovering over them when they awoke, but he found it down right creepy.

"Jiji! What are you doing?" He said cheerfully, and confusedly, glancing to the ANBU with a calculating gaze before he smiled with closed eyes. "Dog-san! What are you doing?" He repeated in the exact same tone, raising his arm as if going to pet a dog on the head, his own mask, his first line of defense, the fool, just finishing being cemented in place. "Cut the bullshit." Was the reply, neither were amused it seemed, but the pure bluntness of it just surprised him outright. "W-what? He asked somewhat dumbly, his brow raised in surprise, as his hand was now in a rather tight grip. Both men's dark gaze loomed over him.

"Cut the bullshit." Again, he was flabbergasted. This time not from the bluntness of the words, but rather the speaker. "Jiji!?" He wanted to shout the words, but all that came out was a soft breath, as his eyes squeezed shut. No...he wouldn't let his mask fall here. He blinked the burning in his eyes away and swallowed hard, forcing the lump in his throat down. "You-" The lump in his throat shot back up and he swallowed again. Sarutobi rose a brow in questioning. He steeled himself and laced his voice with as much innocence as he could as he forced the words out of his mouth. "You have to put a coin in the swear jar." He looked at the man, and just nearly flinched. The man was enraged with his reply. _This is the end, eh? Go down fighting then.._ "No...NO.. NO!" He rose his voice with each word, the first mask crumbled, the first of two. This was his second. His last chance.

"It won't fucking be this way! If I'm not allowed to wear a mask here than neither is this son of a bitch!" He screeched while he whipped his hand up to the ANBU's mask. Needless to say he was easily stopped. The soft voice of Sarutobi filled the room. "He'll take off his mask, once you REALLY take off yours." The words hit him like a freight truck. His masks crumbled so easily? Why were his cheeks warm? He reached up and wiped with the back of his hand. Tears. When had he started crying? His hands were instantly freed and he found them around Sarutobi. His face was in the man's chest and he sobbed, the 3 years of understanding the hate, from 2 years old, and the 1 of understanding why. 3 years of pent up tears sprung from his eyes into the man's robe.

He stayed like that for an hour. Neither of the other men in the room made a move, or a sound. Suddenly he felt the room thick with heavy guilt, which he would question later. His thoughts were finally reigned in as his emotions had taken control of his actions before. _Finally. Someone, I can trust...Wait...the ANBU. _He turned his head to glance at the man he thought of, who was currently gripping the table where he had lay a moment before, his head down in near shame. He couldn't stop himself as he spoke, the childlike attitude that had melded with his intelligence, maturity, and hatred finally revealing itself again. "It's okay Dog-san...It's not your fault..." He spoke softly, and slowly and unsurely released his tight grip on the Hokage, which he was sure the man was thankful for, and scooted across the short table to the ANBU. "You're the one was following me, right?" He reached slowly, wrapping his arms around the man's stomach, and pulling him in to a tight hug as well. "Wouldn't have guessed they would send an ANBU after me though." He added quietly, just so he could hear, which seemed to make the man stiffen (if possible) even more than from the hug. After a few moments he gave a tight, reassuring squeeze and let go.

He looked at the man, behind the mask and gave a huge smile, looking at him mischeviously before whispering an almost eerie sounding "Your turn." To him. The man looked at him before he shook his head. "Hmph, god damn liar Jiji." He shot in Sarutobi's direction before scoot to the edge of the table and hanging his legs over the edge, swinging them slightly back and forth. He thought he had heard him laugh for a second, but quickly dismissed the sound. Jiji never laughed. He could however hear the unusual amount of breath the masked man let out at once. A surpressed laugh? _I may never know._ He thought in realization.

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And that's it! Sorry for the early release and very short chapter. I just had to get it out. I have to wonder whether or not I should move the rating to M for language, opinions? As said, reviews welcome, and appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

God. I've just been so excited to type. It's almost all I've wanted to do now. So here we are, the new chapter update schedule. While it may still change it will now be both Wednesday AND Saturday when I update. This could come to a slow as finals approach and I eventually start hitting the immovable wall known as writer's block.

I can reassure you that this will not happen for some time to come, and so we have it. A new chapter. 'till Saturday~!

Been forgetting this: Disclaimer- I don't own anything, nor do I have a wish to as I could never have thought up a great manga such as Naruto.

* * *

Train, and train hard. That had become his personal mantra for the past few months since his ruse had been discovered. He noticed the lack of ANBU presence and found it to be particularly disturbing.

While ANBU was distinctly lacking, the few times he had noticed them had only been to his Chakra sensing ability that he had worked almost night and day to obtain. The way that he had seen it is, if in some way the seal weakened and Kyuubi chakra had been allowed to escape, he would have at least been able to sense when it was happening. There also came the added bonus of discovering his ANBU guards when a few rookies got lazy enough for him to be able to sense him.

He had been sculpting not only his physical body recently, but his mental one as well. He had been building various personalities, and had acquired a good number of 13 to put up as defense to people trying to interact with him. He discovered early that people weren't to be trusted nor were they to be allowed within his circle of precious people, as they were nothing but petty liars, wanting to get him 'what he deserved' as they called it.

Fuck them.

While he had found it impossible to get into the local library to gain his intelligence, as no one would let him near the books, sneaking in was no large feat, as no one had bothered to keep a watch at the library. What thief would want to raid a library? _Pffft, yea. That's probably what they thought. _He reassured himself viciously. He was the proud thief who had made it mandatory for there to be at least one Chuunin level shinobi at the library at all times, both during night and day.

People had assumed him, of course (although, this time they were right). They had whispered that 'the demon wanted to learn their weaknesses'. He chuckled a bit at the thought.

He had read about the Yondaime. Minato Namikaze was his name. No pictures of the man that he could find, sadly. He hadn't hated the man, and while he was reading about him he only found that he had an unnerving admiration towards him. He was a genius. Something had caught his attention though. While all the public books had read that the man sacrificed himself to kill the beast, it had ironically decided that it was the perfect moment to speak up.

* * *

**Flashback:**

He skimmed over the book he had recently stolen quickly. They would have to be returned eventually, lest someone become suspicious.

As he read the line, he became increasingly interested. Why did the book tell a lie? The Kyuubi was sealed in him, he spoke to the damn thing! So why did it say that the Yondaime had sacrificed himself to kill the beast? _Investigation into the incident later. _He mentally noted. He suddenly fell forward, a black enveloping him as he couldn't even cry out for help.

Naruto's inner mind:

He panted heavily, on his hands and knees with water coming up just passed his wrist. He took a few shuddering, deep breaths and crawled up to his feet.

_Why am I in here?_ He thought, asking no one.

He nearly dropped a brick in his pants when he got a response.

_**"I brought you here."**_He turned slowly, to address the only open, huge red eye behind the sky touching bars.

"Listen, you, you..." He clenched his fists into balls in front of him, gritting his teeth before relaxing and looking inquiringly at the fox.

He spoke softly, keeping his voice terse, but understanding. "Since you dragged me here as I was in the middle of something, it must be important. I will keep this nice, but before we begin I have two questions." He stopped, waiting to see if the demon before him had something to say before continuing. "First, what would you like for me to call you?" The fox stiffened at the question but relaxed again almost an instant later, a movement unrecognized by the boy.

"Second..." He frowned, a blush crawling it's way onto his cheeks as he asked with a child like tone and curiosity. "You can hear my thoughts?" He finished quietly, obviously embarrassed.

The fox was quiet for a long while and he opened his mouth to say something before he heard a deep, resounding, and booming noise. Laughter.

He sat with a tick mark appearing on his forehead, a scowl evident on his face as he watched the gleaming white teeth disappear as the fox seemingly calmed down.

_**"Ahhh, you're funny kid. Seems you're not as devoid of your innocence as you let on. Anyway, yes, I can hear your thoughts. As for my**__**name..."**_The fox shifted, a bit uncomfortable, it seemed. _**Damn kid is bringing up memories meant to be forgotten. "Is unimportant."**_It finished bluntly, leaving the boy slightly baffled.

Before he could speak however, he sent the boy back into his consciousness. **_"_**_**N**_**_o more stupid questions, boy. I'm sick of you already. Leave my sight."_**

**End Flasback/**

* * *

He sighed at the memory. They were just getting to chat together too! Him and his stupid questions...

He slowly drifted off into his thinking as he stopped his training, the Kunai he had just thrown at his makeshift targets missing horribly and flying off into the woods somewhere. Without a word he followed after them, walking past his makeshift targets, which in reality were just a few boxes he found and stacked up on each other, painting a bulls-eye with some mud that had just the right amount of consistency as to where it wouldn't slide down and just make a brown circle. The clearing he had found was a distance into the woods, around a mile or so out, and wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. He had camped here sometimes, god did he love the outdoors.

After a minute or so of searching, he got worried. Those Kunai were gifted to him by Jiji, and he would be damned if he had lost them. What seemed like the only gifts he ever got... _NO! No getting depressed now_ He mentally screamed at himself, adopting a serious expression as he began to search for the Kunai that he held so close to his heart (not literally xD).

"Y'know, I thought for a second that you had tried to hit me with those Kunai, Naruto-kun." An ear to ear grin broke out on his face as he turned to the sound of the voice, a man sitting on the low branch of a tree behind him, twirling his 3 kunai between his fingers expertly. A dog mask covered his face, and his voice was lazy, as if bored of being here already. "Dog-san!" He squealed with delight and raced over, tackling the man in the mask. The Kunai in the man's hand all landed beside them, tips embedded in the ground harmlessly, courtesy of the ANBU member he was currently hugging, of course.

He squeezed the man tight, happy to see him back and alive. During one of their previous moments like this, Inu(as he wanted to be called) had explained to him the basics behind ANBU missions, and that he might not even come back one of the times. The thought had deterred him from getting too attached to the man, but they still kept a more than friendly relation. The ANBU may as well have been his brother with how well he treated him.

Inu made an 'oomph' sound as he was tackled, and then grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'I told you not to call me that' soon after. He still lightly rested a hand on Naruto's back. The fact that Naruto had gotten close enough to even touch him was a sentiment to there relationship alone. Anyone else would have been sliced open already for getting too close yet here Naruto was, clinging to the man as Inu carried him back to his special training clearing.

With a single armed wrapped around Inu's neck to keep himself up, he slipped the three Kunai back into their pouch that was strapped to his thigh, fitted to size and blending in quite well with the slightly ragged and worn brown shorts while his white t-shirt slung to him with sweat.

As they reached the clearing he slid off of Inu's back, placed his hands on his hips and gave him a large smile. He knew something was wrong. Inu hadn't spoken to him once on the walk to the clearing, and seemed a bit solemn rather than his usual self.

He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but it was then that his world came crashing down "I'm leaving Naruto-kun." The words were blunt, and devoid of emotion. His heart broke but he tried to fight it off...he still had a chance. Just like the first time he broke down, he began to let emotions override his thoughts. "Wh-what?" His voice was small, weak. He wanted to cry and let himself die. "A mission. Assigned by Lord Hokage-sama himself." Another blunt answer that just rips his heart out. He wanted to shrink into his skin and crawl away. "How long?" He questioned, the whisper of a voice surprisingly steady. "More than a year." He let out a shuddering breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He looked around the little clearing and despite his young life couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. "Inu-nii..." The man looked surprise at the use of his name, then a little sober. "You were the one who helped me discover this place." He waved his arm, gesturing to the clearing. It was his only get-away. The only escape from the torture that he had called a life. The only place he could be alive. "I'll be coming back, Naruto." He gave a weak nod, while his support behind it wasn't really there.

He lifted a box that had been used for target practice and sat in on the ground. He sat on it and pulled off his shirt. The jagged scar running across his pre-mature chest. The results of his training would not really be shown until he was a bit older. The scar stretched from the bottom of the left side of his collar bone down to his belly button. A deep wound, given to young for it to be cleared and healed completely, unlike most wounds he got now. He ran a finger over it and flinched, then moved his hand to his shoulder where there was another scar. Less severe, but still put on a body to young to heal. The only two scars of his life and they would be with him until he was in his late teens.

"I'm gonna miss you Inu-nii... Promise some ramen when you get back?" He glanced at the man, his teeth gritting through his question, tears already sliding down his cheeks and meeting at his chin, dripping down to his shorts silently. "Promise." Came the reply with a slight bit of remorse hidden in the under tone. This was the man who told him to look 'underneath the underneath' after all. As the man who he had become the closest of friends with disappeared in a burst of chakra and a Shunshin, he cradled his own head in his two hands, covering his eyes from the outside world.

None would look in. He wouldn't look out.

He remained like this for two days, before gathering his belongings, washing and heading into town to find Ichiraku's. He vowed to be strong when just a month later Jiji had told him that the ANBU agent known as 'Inu' was dead. He trained nonstop. Even when he wasn't conscious anymore he was in his mind, trying to start conversations with the Kyuubi. Of course the fur ball rejected him every single time, so he just delved into books. He had read most of the important stuff out of the library. By important stuff, this meant literally half the books in their. He read the history of the village. Most of the ninja techniques and such. He could just never figure the damn things out.

After finishing the last shinobi-relevant book in the library he was browsing when he saw something that caught his eye. The title read: **Taming a Fox**: _Beginners Guide _He was giggling for the first time since Inu left when he plucked the book off the shelf and began to skim through it. He could practically feel the waves of irritation coming off of the fox inside him when he realized what the boy was looking through. He rolled his eyes and put the book carefully back on the shelf, as it hadn't REALLY interested him anyway.

The only other book in the library that caught his attention was quite a shocker. Written by a sannin, Jiraiya. His surprise furthered when he saw the main protagonist's name. Naruto. He regained his senses a moment later and picked the book up off the ground- yes it surprised him enough to drop the book - and stuffed it inside his jacket. A later time's read. _Maybe I should look further into this sannin's work? _He thought as he browsed the library some more for the artist's name. Eventually he went up to the front desk and played his first mask. The Fool. "Hi there, I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it!" He played the part well, and seeing him as an idiot usually took a bit of pressure off of the villagers when talking to him. Although he did actually favor the catch phrase, he loved it when he saw the incredulous look on their faces when he used the quote.

With a silent thank you to who knows what when he saw the librarian was a young girl, he went ahead with his question. "Do you have any more books by a man named Jiraiya?" A slap crossed his face and he was so shocked that even without acting he reached up to touch his cheek.

"Pervert!" She yelled before pointing out the door of the library. He complied immediately and walked out with a thinking look on his face.

* * *

8 years old. He had come up with the idea of forest trips just a year ago, and he would leave the village for a month about every three months since beginning to go on them. He couldn't rate how strong he was. He had no one to fight against and the taijutsu style he had was basically something someone could use in a street brawl. Self training could only go so far, and he had reached the limit of his eight year old body. He really felt like there was nothing more he could do.

After having found the memorial stone he started going to it almost every week. He hadn't known why, but something just drew him to it. He traced his fingers over the carved names in the stone and rested on the name of his father's. Minato Namikaze. Oh yeah. He had found out, and he was _pissed._ The damn fox 'fessed up during one of their- _God it sounds like I'm friends with him or something _He mused, chuckling lightly to himself as he ran his thumb over his father's name. In fact, the fox and him had grown quiet close to each other, although he couldn't speak for the fox.

When the fox let it slip that he was just like his parents he had kept pestering until he finally spat it out. It was a shock to say the least.

His looks grew distant as his eyes focused back on the name and he had to swallow a lump in his throat. No more tears.

He had gained more secrets than a person could imagine, and he set off towards the tower of the man who knew most of them as well. The tower of the man he called Jiji. The tower of the Hokage.

He had a request to make, and he was sure it would be answered.

A smile danced his lips and he closed his eyes slightly as he hummed a tune (Rufus Wainwright-Hallelujah) he had learned from a traveling man, as it seemed to fit the tone when he ignored the glares of the villagers, and the sneers of their arrogant children.

* * *

Chapter End. Review, ask questions. Whatever suits ya'. Oh, and thanks to two follows and one favorite. Getting just a few was enough to make my day worth it. Another short chapter by my standards and I apologize. :p


	3. Chapter 3

Another day, another chapter. 2 favs and 4 follows now? I can barely believe it when I look at this and keep repeating to myself in my head "This is my story." Thank you so much.

* * *

The Hokage stared at him with a steady, calculating gaze. He shifted on his feet a bit as he looked at the ground embarrassed with his question. Soon, Hiruzen had stood up and was next to him, squeezing his biceps and all the other important muscles of his body softly. Even though he had understood what the man was doing, he couldn't help but be weirded out. "Ah, Jiji, what the _hell_ are you doing?" He asked accusingly with a twitching eye as he leaped back, away from the man. Even the ANBU hidden in the room seemed to be creeped out, as one of them almost blew their cover when they fell out of the disguise for just a moment.

The man merely gave him a gentle smile. "Well Naruto-kun. It seems you have been through some **rigorous **training recently." He spoke softly, but had put an emphasis on the word 'rigorous' that did not go unnoticed by Naruto. "Yea. I have to train to be able to take that hat from you, old man." He replied boastfully, not trusting of the ANBU in the room. The man pretended to be hurt and walked slowly back to his desk, muttering "I'm not that old" under his breath as he went.

As the Hokage sat down, he waited, and listened. "So Naruto, you want to be enrolled in the academy not this year, but the next? When you're nine to be exact..." He nodded his head excitedly as the man continued. "Hmmm, interesting choice. Well we had plans to do so anyways." Hiruzen finished. He was still nodding his head but with a frown on his face and as soon as his head slowed and stopped he tilted it backwards and let out a groan. "I came here for **nothing** then!?" He all but shouted at the man.

He didn't even wait for an answer as he turned and stomped out of the room, stopping for a brief second at the door to call over his shoulder "Get me when it's time" before leaving.

* * *

After leaving a note at his house that explained what he was doing and where he was he began the trek to his clearing. _A whole year of training. I wonder what this will do for me when I come back _He mused to himself as he stepped over a log and around a bush, following the path to the clearing he had been using for each of his forest trips. The clearing that Inu had helped him discover just a few years ago.

After reaching the clearing and setting up, he had a small fire, a hidden shelter in the trees, and a small storage area for food. He was laying on the highest branch of a tall tree, staring up at the stars that began to come into view as a full moon rose from the east. His arms were crossed behind his head and he star-gazed in silence, a heavy feeling setting into his chest as he stood up and leaped from the branch, and to the next, landing with barely a noise as he pulled open the curtain of leaves that had been draped over the entrance to his new home. Slipping inside he peeled off his shirt and put it against the tree where he leaned back against it. The bark jutting out still hurt his back but it was better than having his skin scraped off by the rough tree.

He didn't know when he fell asleep. He didn't know when the nightmares came. The numerous beatings he endured came to haunt him amidst his rest and usually jolted him awake earlier than he should have been. Tonight he slept through and relived almost every beating he had taken in just 9 hours.

When he awoke he had a thin layer of sweat of his torso, and his stomach rumbled loudly. He grabbed a branch just a few feet overhead and used it to pull the rest of his aching body up. Despite having used this method to sleep before his back still felt like it had been put through a meat tenderizer when he woke up. He ducked out of his shelter and walked to the end of the branch, stretching with his arms up in the air. The satisfying crack came quickly had he began to straighten out the rest of his body, his legs cracking slightly along with his elbows. Finally relieved he looked over the clearing that would be his training ground for the next year.

When he bent his knees and hopped off the branch in a very much practiced routine, his hand was already up and he caught the branch that was further down from his shelter, stopping his fall and bending just enough to put his feet gently on the ground. He let go of the branch and it flung itself back up to its previous spot. Some of the leaves shook loose and came down around him as he walked towards his food storage. Seeing the pitiful amount of food he had he made a frown and shook his head to himself, while grabbing his Kunai and going out to hunt.

He stepped softly, examining the ground in front of him and taking in all the entities that could make noise._ A twig 5 feet to the right, 2 feet long, very brittle looking. _He mentally noted while his eyes went back to searching for pray. Stepping over the twig mentioned, it was finally seen. Prey. _Rabbit, male, appears to be 5 years of age _He stalks forward, remembering to take glances at the ground to avoid making noise. Once he was in a range he was sure he could hit the animal he went through the motion once, making sure his body was fully awake. Finding no problems, he went for the kill. The Kunai hit the rabbit in the side of the head and it fell without a noise, foot still twitching as if it was trying to get away.

Back in camp with three rabbits slung over his shoulder he sat on a rock near the treeline and slipped a knife out from his pocket. After scanning over it briefly, remembering how much he had to pay to get the merchant to give it to him, he shook his head with a laugh. It was worth it. He began to skin the rabbits carefully as he was trying to conserve their pelts to sell the next time the merchant, whom he had become friends with, passed by.

After 7 hours there was 3 beheaded rabbits hung upside down over a fire. The pelts were laying in the shade and decently tanned. _Enough to get around 100 Ryō each... _He mused as his gaze travelled over his handiwork, then to the sun. The sun had just barely crossed overhead and was now setting (lets say 2:00 pm). With a sigh he went back to the food, and picked up the stick embedded in the ground, hastily pulling his meal back to him. He pulled the knife hastily from his pocket and sliced a piece of meat from the meal, popping the morsel in his mouth curiously, as if in wonder if the food was alright. Recognizing the meat was cooked thoroughly a small smile and a proud nod came from him as he continued to enjoy his meal in this fashion.

The day continued along, time lost to him while he had gotten water, a bit more food, and he had pulled out the book that had been written by the sannin. "_Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" _The words fell out of his mouth, voice just above a whisper as his thumb unconsciously traced over the simple title of the book as he spoke. Carefully, he peeled the first page of the book, which, judging by the condition, hadn't been read very often. It looked almost brand new but had an air of age around it at the same time. Shaking his head free of his own thoughts his eyes snapped to the first paragraph, first line, and first word of a book that would undoubtedly change his views on life for years to come.

The sun had finally begun to set behind the treetops. After climbing to the top of his tree, he sat comfortably on his favorite branch, and could just barely see the sun disappear under the horizon. A wide variety of colors painted the sky as it grew darker. Pinks and Purples, Oranges and Reds. A shade of green somewhere mixed in. A content sigh escaped his mouth as he leaned back further into the tree and let a small, real, smile grace his lips. His breathing had slowed, and he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

The boy known as Naruto lived like this for the full year and a half until his ninth birthday.

* * *

"October 9th... So I'm nine tomorrow, eh?" He asked no one in particular, crouching down on the edge of the branch while balancing on the balls of his feet. His gaze traveled out over the forest to the village of Konoha. A soft look settled on his features and he stood, stretching to his full height of about 4 foot. Satisfied with how his muscles were now stretched he bent his knees and jumped, laughing as he twisted in the air to do a flip, and landed perfectly in the same crouching position he was in while sitting on the branch.

"Don't want to make the old man walk all the way out here I suppose." The figure mumbled quietly to himself as he stood up once more and slung a leather pack over his shoulder. With one nostalgic glance over the clearing he turned towards his 'home' and set off with a burst of speed as he disappeared into the tree branches, leaving nothing but what looks like a quaint, out-of-the-way clearing.

Travelling through the trees at a swift pace he figured he would arrive at the gate within the hour, and a hand moved to the back of his neck as he pulled a orange hood up over his head which strangely seemed to match with his black and green Konoha clothing. A vicious smile came across his lips as he slipped his hand into his pack and came out with a Kitsune mask. The mask came over his face and he locked it in place with some chakra directed to the area. _What's a good way to show those villagers that I'm back? Something big, that is for __**sure.**_ His mind began to drift as he thought of good pranks to signify his return. He gasped as the idea came to him, and he continued the rest of the way to the gate with a shit eating grin under his mask.

After 20 minutes of leaping from tree to tree, the gate came into view. Along with the two gatekeepers. _Crap. What were their names? Imozu and Tokutsu...? No... Ah! _He gave a bow as he came to the gate. "Kotetsu, Izumi, It's good to se-" "BWAHAHAH!" "Damn it Kotetsu, this is serious!" Izumo's hand was balled into a fist and a throbbing tick mark had appeared above his head as he yelled at his partner, Kotetsu, who was now rolling on the ground with tears coming out of the corner of his eyes. Izumo turned to him. "Ninja registration, please, _**sir.**_ And it's Izum**o.** There is no I. That's a girls name." He spoke venomously, while glaring daggers at him while his partner calmed himself. He responded nearly instantly. "Ah, you see. That's a problem for me. I don't necessarily have, um, a registration, so to speak." Everything had suddenly become serious, and he really didn't want to get in a fight, especially with some people who seemed like pretty nice guys. Not to mention they would have to be pretty strong if they were trusted to guard the gate. So he quickly went to explain himself. "B-but I can report to the Hokage and have his backing, I have just been on a, um, mission. Yeah! A mission..." He stumbled and they had both narrowed their eyes at him.

"You seem pretty young to be going on missions..." "Yea, and what's with the suspicious get-up." He inwardly groaned. Maybe he should have just let the old man come and get him. "Listen, just let me pass, and I can bring the Hokage himself here to prove it to you." They tensed and he began to slide into a defense position until a black shadow appeared next to him. ANBU. "Kitsune, what has been holding you up here?" The man in the Cat mask asked while the two gatekeepers before him nearly jumped out of their skin. He merely jerked his head in their direction and they hastily moved out of his way. "A-ah, sorry ANBU-san. We had not known that he was one of yours." He nods his thanks to the ANBU as the man disappeared in a Shunshin, and walked through the gate towards the Hokage Tower, walking right through the middle of the street, watching the villagers in his peripheral village while another shit eating grin sprouted across his face as he saw their wonderment at seeing what they thought was an ANBU just walking around in broad daylight.

A short time of inwardly laughing later and he had arrived at the gates, and _another _two gatekeepers. A deep breath calmed him down somewhat and he looked up at the window to what he knew was the Hokage's office. Glaring, he noticed it was conveniently open and, even while knowing the possible consequences, appeared at the window with the Shunshin, only to be staring at what was unmistakeably a meeting for the Jōnin of the village (minus one Kakashi Hatake). His eyes narrowed as the hidden ANBU in the room seemed to be making signals to each other with an unrecognizable method. The Jōnin had visibly relaxed to his presence, assuming him to be an ANBU reporting to the Hokage. Hiruzen had raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously, and narrowed his eyes. Stepping down from the window and leaning back against it, he did the only thing he could think of to break the ice. As his hand moved toward his pocket, the ANBU made a move as if they were going to attack, which caused Hiruzen to raise his hand and call him off. Everyone tensed as he pulled the item from its storage.

A copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

After reading over a couple of pages he looked up to see everyone picking themselves up from their face faults. Even Hiruzen had to hold the desk to stop himself. A groan by a tan, raven-haired man with a scraggly beard broke the few minutes silence. "It's _another _one." "Silence. Everyone out." The use of Hiruzen's 'Hokage voice' came quick and venomous. Needless to say, everyone had filed out after that. The ANBU themselves had even left after hearing the voice and recognizing it as a command to them as well. The dark gaze of the Hokage swept over to him and the man rose from his chair slowly, moving towards him at an ominous pace which made him wince.

In on quick second, he had been wrapped up in a tight hug, which he had returned after overcoming his shock, his Icha Icha book had been torn from his grip, and hidden so quickly he didn't even see when it had happened. "Naruto.." The man's voice was soft. "I'm so glad..." He closed his eyes and squeezed tighter. "That you didn't make an old man like me walk through the forest to reach you." A deadpan overcame his hidden face and his eye twitched as the Hokage moved back to his chair.

* * *

As a writer, I sincerely apologize for not putting out a chapter on the days promised. Recent storms knocked out the power just as I was about to start typing the chapter Friday night (last week) and I had not gotten power until just yesterday.

After typing this chapter, I can happily say that the story is now progressing much better (in my opinion) and I will soon start to live up to those 5000 word chapter promises.

Reviews welcome and pm for personal questions. Again. Apologies for everything, as I can only hope for my 4 followers to forgive me.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, here we are. A chapter as promised and we are finally starting to get somewhere. I will be honest. I was a little confused by the whole academy thing. I wasn't sure whether Naruto was in a class with his classmates from the manga/anime the whole time he was in school or what.

So I'm just gonna say that he started a year before everyone else and that he failed purposely.

* * *

Naruto - 10 years old

Propping his feet up on the table, Naruto leaned back in the chair so that it was balancing on the back two legs. Dozing like this had become a habit of his during class, and he was usually reprimanded harshly by the sensei, Iruka, when he did so.

"NARUTO!"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." He mumbled under his breath as a chorus of laughter broke out in the class. Letting the chair fall back forward with a loud 'BANG' which silenced the whole class, he pulled his feet off the desk and grinned at Iruka sheepishly, while scratching his cheek. "Yea, Iruka-sensei?"

"What did I tell you about sleeping in class?" Iruka glared, with a raised eyebrow. Grin turning into a frown, Naruto pointed at the Nara next to him, who had laid his head back in his crossed arms, and was presumably sleeping. "Well, what are you gonna do about him?!" He asks, a tone of exasperation coming into his voice.

"I've given up on trying to wake him a long time ago." The man answers, shaking his head grievously. Mouth gaping, he stares at the teacher, before letting his face drop back onto the desk, causing another chorus of laughter.

"Well since everyone seems to find class so funny, how about we take a quiz!?" Iruka shouted to all the students behind him, before pulling the stack of papers from some kind of hidden compartment in his clothes, and putting enough to pass down his row in front of him. Basically everyone in the class turned to glare at him, and some had even groaned his official nickname, 'dobe'.

With a shrug he took the sheet and placed it carefully on the Nara's head, balancing it carefully there before he took a pencil from his pocket, and looked over the quiz. Marking every single answer except the last one wrong, he stood and walked up to the desk where an Iruka with an odd expression was awaiting him. "Done already, Naruto?" "Yup, and this is a 100%, believe it!" He exclaimed before slamming the poor piece of paper down on the desk, drawing some snickers from the rows of his classmates. Shaking his head, Iruka took the paper and looked over it for less than a second before looking back up to Naruto.

"There's only one question right on this paper..." "What! No way! That's only a 7 percent!" He shouted, causing the whole class to burst out into laughter. Iruka shook his head once more, his eyes closed, almost as if he was mourning. "Sit down, dobe, before you embarrass yourself even more." One person's voice came above all the others, quieting the class. Sasuke Uchiha. Turning to glare at the boy, and was about to open his mouth to say something but with a bit of his real personality coming through, went to sit down instead sighing the whole way. Instead of the arrogant smirk he had been expecting from the Uchiha, a frown was on his face instead.

Leaning back in his chair once more he dozed off, his head lolling to the side in a uncomfortable way.

"Alright class, outside for sparring!" Stretching his arms, and yawning tiredly, he rubbed his eyes and opened them to see everyone filing out of the classroom except for the Nara who had shaken him awake. Setting the front legs of the chair down gently, he stood a bit to quickly and nearly fell when his world turned sideways. "Troublesome..." He heard Shikamaru mutter, and blinked rapidly, trying to force his world to steady itself.

"Here, put your hand here..." He just barely heard, and looked at the other boy quizzically, trying to gauge if he could trust him. Just about to fall, he put his arm around the Nara's neck with his hand gripping the boy's shoulder. Shikamaru's arm went under his and rested on his shoulder, supporting him carefully. A gentle smile went across his lips and he let himself be led out of the class and to the Academy's training grounds. (Sorry if confusing, just a little hard to explain. Kinda like this - . )

As they came out from the building, they were met with various expressions. Most of the class laughed, while Iruka had a worried expression. "Look at those two, you think they're gay?" He could practically feel Shikamaru roll his eyes and laughed a little as they just walked past the class and to the tree line, where he was let down. Leaning back against the tree he uttered a soft "Thank-you" before pulling out his favorite book. Icha Icha Paradise. He felt the other boy sit next to him, and also felt the confused stare, but the boy didn't say anything which he was particularly grateful for.

"So, we're both wearing a mask, huh?" He asked while reading, not bothering to look away. "Yea." Was the simple reply. He could definitely trust him. "Friends?" He asked quietly, a frown hidden behind the book, as he was slightly worried about the reply. "Friends." Closing his eyes, he snapped the book shut as both his and his new friends names were called for sparring. "Forfeit!" He yelled over to Iruka, earning another shaking of the man's head, but he could still see the small smile hidden in the shadow of the man's face. With that he turned and smirked at the Nara, which was returned. "Shōgi." They both said at the same time, and stood quickly, with Shikamaru dusting off his pants, and Naruto slipping his book back into his orange jumpsuit's pocket while tugging at the collar, almost praying for the thing to burst into flames right then and there. He liked the color orange but the thing was more for his own personal training purposes than the color, which there was a bit too much of.

* * *

"Damn." He spoke while laying atop the Yondaime, his father's, head. "You really are a genius, Shikamaru." He laughed, his arms crossed behind his head, while the other boy lay a few feet behind him, on the dirt while watching the clouds. A orange hew taking over the sky as it slowly darkened. "Three games, with each being 2 hours long and you beat me out by a mile in all three of 'em." He stopped, glancing up to make sure the other boy was not sleeping, or something like that. Seeing open eyes he went back to watching the sun set while waiting for an answer. "Well look at it this way, Naruto. You're the first one to ever push me that far. Considering the only one to ever beat me is my father you are an amazing player, and strategist. I knew when you first revealed your true personality that you were smart, but I never expected something like that."

"Y'know, if you keep talking like that, I might to start agree with our classmates view of you being gay." He glanced up again, receiving an amused glare from the other boy, a smirk on his face. "They meant both of us, at the time." He retorted. "Well, I know that, but I know for a fact that I'm not gay. So lets hear it, Nara, I didn't hear you not say that you were gay." This time, the lazy tone came back to the boy's voice. "Nah, I'm not gay. I blame my lack on interest of girl's on half of them being stupid, fawning over the Uchiha, and my own body not kicking into puberty just yet." A glance up at the sky, and while sitting up he continued. "Listen Naruto, it's been fun but I don't need to be yelled at by my dad for being out so late. I'll see you tomorrow. I also have someone I would like you to meet. You know him, Choji. He's one of my best friends." Feigning hurt, Naruto sat up and held his hand over his heart. "I'm not your best friends, Shikamaru?" Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru turns away, waving his hand before jogging away. "Cya!" He calls as the other boy leaves, before laying back down and closing his eyes, slowly drifting into sleep with a smile on his face.

He made a friend today.

* * *

Naruto - 12 years old

Graduation Day. Walking towards the Academy was Naruto Uzumaki, his face buried in an adult book, orange jumpsuit discarded for his orange hooded cloak with a loose fitting black sweatshirt underneath. Brown cargo shorts came down just to just below his knee, barely revealing his defined calves. Glancing up as he reached the Academy gate, he walks in and to the building. Snapping the book shut and smiling as he walked straight up the side of the building and crouching on the window sill, effectively scaring the class, all except Shikamaru, Choji, and Iruka, who only seemed to be surprised. His three friends in the whole class. Choji, whom he was introduced to by Shikamaru and was actually quite a fun person once you got to know him. Iruka, who approached him one night with genuine concern. When asked if he was being bullied by his classmates he had laughed, cracking his mask and raising Iruka's suspicion towards him. The man practically stalked him for a whole year until he got sick of it and let Iruka see his real personality.

Smiling gently, he stepped down and walked past Iruka, who glared at him, and went over by Choji and Shikamaru, who he now sat between. "Naruto, did you know that you were 2 and a half hours late!?" Iruka reprimanded him, to which he waved his hand casually. "Ah, you see Iruka-sense, there was this kitten on the side of the road in a little box, so I had to bring it home and nurture it back to health." Iruka just stared at him with a strange look on his face, horror? Another question for later. "Besides, 2 and a half hours? That's actually pretty early for me, y'know." Facepalming, Iruka just pointed to his seat, and so he sat down.

Everyone else in the class was slightly perturbed by his change of personality and new clothes, and were glancing at him curiously as he waited patiently for the test to be passed around. Furrowing his eyebrows as Iruka's assistant walked in, Mizuki, he sat in thought of what would be a good word to what he sensed emanating from the man. _Trickery? No. Manipulation? Close._

**_Deceit?_**Came the mumble from deep within his mind as the Kyuubi through in his own two-cents. Tapping his chin thoughtfully he nodded in acceptance. _Yea, that's the word. Thanks. _Naruto eyed the man carefully, and looked down at his paper, which as he had always done, marked only the very last answer right. Standing and glancing down to Shikamaru's paper he rolled his eyes after seeing every answer marked right. Looks like he wanted to pass this test. Naruto himself couldn't be bothered to look through all the questions, although he was sure he could get a 100%. He planned to pass in the other two categories, preferably just barely passing at that.

Iruka gazed at him carefully as he put his paper down on the man's desk. With a small smile, he makes his way back to his seat, glancing around the room for signs of anything out of the ordinary. Sitting down just as Shikamaru stands to go turn in his own paper, he leans back to tilt his chair and slowly dozes off. "Alright everyone, out to the training grounds for your throwing test, and after that we will return in here for your Ninjutsu test." Blinking his eyes open he stands slowly and follows Shikamaru out. Arriving at the training ground which was set up with various targets, he looks at Iruka and walks over, drawing a raised eyebrow from the man. Without a word, he snatches the Kunai and Shuriken, holding 10 of each in both hands. Snapping into his self-trained stance out of instinct, he forces himself into his usual lazy manner and halfheartedly swings his arms, releasing the weapons each at the perfect time and at a awkward angle, which is into the sky. Iruka looked like he was about to say something until they arced slowly, 7 of both weapons coming down to indent themselves into the wooden targets. Most of the class was laughing while he returned to his spot next to Shikamaru who had Choji on his other side.

"Pass." Iruka said bluntly, all the while staring at Naruto, who returns his stare with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Next." Iruka called, turning away to hide a small smile on his face.

Staying quiet the whole time he followed the class inside as they went off to finish the last part of the test. Feeling a pat on the back he whipped his head to see Mizuki smiling at him with closed eyes. "Good luck." The man said gently and he had to restrain the urge to beat the man's teeth down his throat right then and there. "Thank!" He yelled, crossing his arms behind his head with a cheeky grin plastered on his face, while his friends stared at Mizuki distrustfully, as they learned that people that made him revert back to his stupid personality were usually bad news.

Going inside he instantly turned to Shikamaru and Choji as they gathered in the corner of the room. "Mizuki's bad news. He fucked up my Chakra control so I can't make any clones or transform. Is what he thinks. Even with whatever he did to me, I can still do those specific jutsu. Even so, I'm gonna purposely fail the test to see what he wants. I figure he has deeper intentions than just making me fail." He spoke quickly and in a hushed tone. A smile came across his face as they nod, but he instantly turns serious again. "Don't hang out with me until I approach you. I don't want you guys to be dragged into this..." His voice became soft, and they nod again although a bit more hesitant this time.

"Naruto!" Turning away he glances one more time over his shoulder at his friends, before walking down towards the door to the room where his career as a Ninja may end. Inside, both Iruka and Mizuki stare at him. "Create three Bunshin." Following instructions, he went through the various hand signs and forced his chakra to waver, effectively messing them up. Looking at the three clones that appeared slumped and dead next to him, he felt relief and at the same time a twinge of regret. "Naruto...you...fail." Iruka said, seeming to force the words out. Feigning shock he spoke quickly. "What no way! I'm telling you I could do it just yesterday, please Iruka-sensei, let me pass!" He begged, while forcing himself to sound exasperated. "We could let him pass, Iruka." Mizuki asked, and he narrowed his eyes, faltering for just a second. _I have to see what he's planning! _"No. We have to fail him." Iruka said, his voice hardening, probably still trying to recover from the shock that he failed. Too shocked to notice Mizuki's unusual behavior.

Sitting on the swing after class, he sat solemnly while watching the other kids get proud 'congratulations' from their parents. What would his life be like if his parents survived? Wincing involuntarily he barely noticed when Mizuki walked up next to him. "Naruto." He jumped and looked over at Mizuki, faking his surprise to see him. "Watcha doin' Mizuki-sensei?" He asked unable to keep the sorrow out of his voice. At least it would make it more believable. "There's another way to graduate you know." The man spoke softly. "What? How!?" He jumped up and looked at the man, his thoughts going over what Mizuki could want him to do. "You have to go on a fake mission to steal a scroll kept in the Hokage Tower. After learning one Jutsu from this scroll, you will pass. Do you think you could do this?" Nodding his head slowly Naruto almost laughed out loud at how stupid this man thought him to be. Take out the word 'fake' and he was basically being asked to commit treason.

* * *

Stealing the scroll had been easy enough and that was how he got here, sitting on the ground, reading over the scroll as he waited for Mizuki to come try to take it, which is when he planned to apprehend him. Mulling over the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which he thought was actually a pretty cool technique, he figured learning it couldn't hurt, and went through the seals once, jumping back a bit surprised when a solid copy of himself appeared. It had taken him a few weeks to learn the normal Bunshin, and get his Chakra control good enough to use it, while this only took first try? Shaking his head, he looked up to see an open-mouthed Iruka staring at him, which quickly turned into an angry-faced Iruka, stomping towards him. "Naruto! What in the hell do you think you're doing!?" He yelled at him, and before he could open his mouth to explain, Mizuki appeared a few feet to the left.

"Good job Naruto, you followed my orders perfectly, you graduated! Now hand over the scroll." He said, a smile on his face the whole time. "No." Mizuki's face contorted into anger and he pulled a large Shuriken from his back. He moved to dodge, knowing he could easily avoid the weapon, but before he could, Iruka appeared in front of him and took the hit. His mouth fell open and he stared in silence as blood drizzled from Iruka's mouth and dripped to the ground. "Run, Naruto. Don't listen to him." His jaw slowly closed and he gritted his teeth. One of his precious people hurt. Because of him, and his stupidity. "Now give me that scroll you little demon!" Mizuki snarled, throwing another large Shuriken at Iruka's back.

He felt the bubbling rage pour into his body and he moved quickly, dashing behind Iruka, to which the man weakly protested. Naruto's eyes hidden by the shadows of his orange hood, which faintly flapped as the wind blew gently. The Shuriken flew at a speed which was agonizingly slow to him, and he felt his body quivering with bottled rage as he brought his hand up, catching the Shuriken and sending his rage through his arm, which caused the weapon in his hand to crack before shattering from where he was holding onto it. He could here his rapid heartbeat in his ears and could just barely hear the white haired man before him ranting. The only words he managed to pick out were 'sealed' and 'Kyuubi'. "The Kyuubi? I've known about him for a loooong time, Mizuki-_sensei_" He growled out, the breeze picking up into a gale, which blew his hood off. "I'll show you a real demon, Mizuki." He snarled as he rushed forward, a seemingly red aura erupting from his body and cloaking him quickly as he flexed the new claws on his fingers. It was at this point he blacked out.

He awoke to the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped his arm which was in the middle of swinging downwards. His head snapped to the side and he instantly relaxed upon seeing the soft gaze of Iruka. "Ah, Iruka-sensei. Where'd Mizuki go?" He asked as the nights events came to him. "And are you okay?" He asked a little urgently, ignoring the warm, moist feeling on his fists. At the saddened gaze of Iruka, he suddenly felt a little sick and looked down to see what he was beating on. Upon seeing the mushy head of what was presumably a person, with his knees pinning whoever it was' arms, not allowing them to block his beating. Then he saw the white hair splayed out behind what looked like a watermelon that had been smashed out with a sledgehammer, and he stood up quickly, running off to some bushes while holding his mouth. He emptied the contents of his stomach, and continued to dry heave until long after the squad of ANBU showed up. When Hiruzen showed up not long after, he forced himself to stop, and turned to see that the mess had been cleaned up. All except his clothes, which the whole front of them were now dyed an orange-red color.

He once again passed, the last thing of his fading consciousness that he could feel was arms wrapping around him and stopping his fall.

* * *

And there it is! I particularly liked writing this chapter.

As always, review, pm for personal questions. etc. etc.

Till' Wednesday!


	5. Chapter 5

Wow. That's all I have to say. 7 Follows and 4 Favs? I feel like I'm being spoiled, although I am a little perplexed at the lack of Reviews. There is absolutely no way that there is nothing wrong with my story. I insist that any questions, advice, or problems to point out should be reviewed about, or pm them to me.

Disclaimer (Which I know that I have been forgetting): Don't own anything that I write about.

* * *

Iruka and Naruto were sat at the Ichiraku stand, both with a bowl of ramen in front of them, with Iruka sipping up the noodles slowly, peering at Naruto out of the corner of his eyes. Naruto just sat blankly while staring down into the bowl. Lifting the bowl to his mouth and tilting it back, sipping down all the juice, Iruka slammed it back down on the table, causing Naruto's head to slowly turn to him.

"Damn it, Naruto, you did what you had to." Iruka finally shouted, which were the first words spoken since Naruto had woken up. The moon at it's highest point in the sky (around 1-2 a.m.). Naruto was just staring blankly, while, unbeknownst to Iruka, he was having an inner battle of emotions. Seeming to decide on the right words he turned to stare once again at the bowl of raman before him, nearly losing the small amount he had eaten when an image of Mizuki's crushed head passed through his mind.

Iruka was about to groan when Naruto finally spoke, his voice was soft, almost like a whisper. "I had to kill him, Iruka-sensei?" "Yes." "Am I still human, Iruka-sensei?" "Y-" Iruka faltered, turning to look at Naruto with wide eyes, surprised by the question. "Am I, Iruka-sensei? The fox didn't even take over at the time. I went in while I was unconscious, and he explained it to me. I don't even know if I can trust him, but he seemed so...genuine. He said that I was suppressing him while I was in my state, and was still, in a sense, conscious when I did..._that._" He turned towards Iruka again, his face in a grimace. "I may not have been in control of my body but I still wanted to kill him. I was just a mass of my current feelings at the time, of what I **truly** wanted to do."

"You're not a monster, Naruto..." Iruka spoke softly while putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze. "You are a hero." With that, Iruka left the Ichiraku stand, an opened mouthed Naruto staring where he had been. With a renewed vigor, Naruto slurped down his noodles, gently putting some money down on the counter as to not wake Teuchi who had been nice enough to make some ramen at this time of night, and silently returned home to his apartment. A small smile played on his face the whole way home.

* * *

Later that night -

_Thank you._

_**For what?!**_The fox sounded baffled, and seemingly angry.

_For helping me protect one of my precious people._

_..._

Naruto sighed, and lay his head down on the pillow, the blood stained outfit now discarded on the ground. Damn fox could at least accept his thanks. As he slowly drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the days events, he wondered if he had imagined it.

_**Your welcome.**__..._

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Morning -

His eyes shot open and to the alarm going off on the desk near his bed. 7 in the morning. Sitting up, he glanced at the outfit on the ground and crawled out of bed, leaning over to pick it up while he walked to the kitchen. Turning the sink water as hot as possible, he threw the bloodied mess in.

After filling the sink and plugging the drain, he walked into the bathroom and went for a quick shower. After scrubbing himself of any evidence that he had killed someone the day before, he came out wrapped in a towel from the waist down. At the sink he scrubbed the outfit harshly, swallowing hard as the blood came out in rivers when he squeezed the garment. After a few minutes of rinse and repeat he grinned as he pulled the now completely clean (or so he thought) outfit from the sink. After hanging the now drying piece of wet clothing from the window he glanced at the clock. 7:50 in the morning. _Academy started 50 minutes ago. _He mused, as he stood at the table and swished the milk. Disgusted at the sound of chunky milk in the container he threw the thing in the trash and decided to just go hungry for the day.

He went through some morning stretches to pass the time, and after 20 minutes of doing so he felt the outfit which had been drying in the sun. Nodding to himself as he could still feel some wetness he peeled it off of the window sill and began pulling it on. A black, long sleeve shirt that hung loosely on his arms with a dark green pair of cargo pants. An open, orange vest with 4 pouches, 1 by his heart that contained his Icha Icha book. 1 On the opposite side that contained the Kunai gifted to him by the Sandaime. 1 a few inches from the bottom of the vest and was close to the zipper. It contained a pencil and notepad, while another on the opposite side contained a few Shuriken. 2 straps, 1 on each leg, tightened the material to his leg on the outside of his cargo pants, contained more Kunai and Shuriken. Lastly a hood which was strangely attached to the back of the vest and was seemingly made from the same material, an expensive silk with extra padding on the inside of the pockets so they weren't pierced by the sharp weapons. After dusting himself off and patting to see if he forgot anything he began walking in the direction of the door.

Stopping at the exit to his apartment he reached to his forehead and lightly brushed his fingers over the Konoha symbol. A frown marred his face and he closed his eyes, pulling his hood up quickly. The Hita-ate was Iruka's, whom had given it to him after he woke up. Needless to say he was surprised at the time. Pulling his orange hood up over his eyes he walked the whole way to the Academy with a frown on his lips.

Entering the same way as he had before, the class was once again scared witless. The fact that he now had a Kitsune mask covering his face probably only raised their fright. Iruka gave him a long, hard look before nodding his head towards Naruto's seat. The boy complied and walked the whole way up to his seat, everyone openly staring at him the whole way he did so. Shikamaru looked closely at him as he sat down, "It's alright." He whispered as Iruka went on with his speech on how important this day was and their Jonin instructors. "What happened?" Shikamaru spoke bluntly, and inspected him closely, which made him thank the mask he was wearing. "I killed him." He whispered with the same amount of bluntness back to the other boy. "Ah." With that, Shikamaru went back to listening to Iruka while Choji was staring at him with a open mouth, his chips beginning to fall out.

"So, what team do you think you will be on, Naruto?" Choji asked after a few seconds of staring. "Well. If it as I think it is, it will be me paired with emo-boy and the harpy. You guys will carry on your parents legacy, y'know. Ino-Shika-Cho? Then there is the people with abilities related to tracking. Shino, god, we need to get that guy in our circle of friends. I like him. The Inuzuka. What was his name?" He questioned no one in particular. "Kiba." Came Shikamaru's lazy mumble. "Yeah. Thanks. Well, Shino, that Asshole." He said, referring to Kiba, and nearly causing Choji to choke on his chips in laughter. "And Hinata." He finished after everyone in the class turned away, as they had been inspecting the source of Choji's laughter. "Naruto. That girl Hinata. She likes you man." Mumbled Shikamaru, his head rested comfortably in his forearms which where criss-crossed on the desk.

"Yea. I know. I..." He hesitated before whispering quietly. "Don't really like her back. She is certainly nice and all but I just don't feel the connection. In fact. I don't like any of the girls in this class, despite how physically appealing they may be, their personalities are all shit." Again, he heard Choji stifle a laugh. Shikamaru just blinked at him. "Ima get me some older girl." He whispered to the boy, causing his face to twist up in a look of disgust and confusion. "Still not hit that age yet, huh Shikamaru?" He teased then quickly added, loud enough for a few students close enough to hear. "You _are _gay?!" Shikamaru just shook his head and glared at him.

"Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki..." "Well, here we go guys, time to see if I was right." "Sakura Haruno..." Bang! He was fairly certain that was the girls face hitting the desk. "and Sasuke Uchiha." "Yes!" He raised an eyebrow at the girl's cheer. Bi-polar maybe? Then he felt a squeeze on both of his shoulders. Glancing left and right, he saw both Shikamaru and Choji shaking their heads disapprovingly. "Sorry Naruto." "Some times it's just the bad luck of the draw, man." He nodded his agreement and tuned out the rest of the team arrangements. After dozing for what seemed like a few minutes for him he looked up and saw that only him, Sasuke, and Sakura were left in the room. Cringing he leaned back to doze off again until he saw the clock. 11 a.m. He had been sleeping for two hours? Where the hell was there Jonin instructor?! letting the chair fall with a loud bang that made both Sakura and Sasuke look at him, he stood and began walking down the isle towards the front of the class. "Naruto-baka, what has been up with you these past few days?! Stop trying to be cool like Sasuke-kun!" He cringed his _obvious _excitement at the shrieking of the pink haired girl.

As she begun to stomp over to him and reached for his mask his hands shot up, stopping her from touching his mask. Just like Inu did when he first met the man. Shaking his head without words he squeezed her forearms tightly, obviously hurting her from the pained gasp that she gave. "Sorry." He muttered, walking past her and to the door. "Dobe. Where are you going?" Came Sasuke's voice, a bit of hidden shock lacing it. Seeing him actually hurt the girl had obviously surprised the other boy. "Ah, you see, I'm going to get lost on the path of life." He spoke vaguely, taking his Icha Icha book from his vest pocket and flipping open to the first page. Time for another read. Just as he was about to open the door it slid open and a tall, white haired man stepped in, bumping into him abruptly. Both froze, and he looked up lazily from his book to see a mysteriously familiar eye looking back at him. Closing his book, and putting it back in his pocket, close to his heart which was seemingly beginning to beat faster, he took one look over the man. The height, the lazy but aware way the man carried himself, one eye? He pointed directly into the man's face, his other reaching up to pull his mask off. "Inu." He stated at the same time his mask came off.

He could tell. After the few months he spent with the man he could still tell after not seeing him for years. The man's mouth was now hanging open and despite hiding it well, his eye had widened for just a fraction of a second. The white haired man shut his mouth and forced his voice into a lazy tone. "My first impression of you guys...I hate you. On the roof" He said before disappearing in a Shunshin. A foxy grin overcame his face and despite the betrayal, the pain, and the surprise he now felt he couldn't help but be overjoyed at seeing him. The mask came over and hid his face, and he dodged just in time to avoid the blow to the back of his head, by one Sakura Haruno. "You BAKA! He was obviously not a dog, Naruto! Now he hates us you idiot! All because of you!" Yup. Time to tune her out. Walking towards the window as Sasuke went to the door, causing Sakura's attention to turn away from him, he sent chakra to his feet and ran up the side of the building. Reaching the top, he noticed Kakashi leaning on the railing and reading his book.

Suppressing the urge to hug the man he was sure he had considered a brother a few years ago he merely walked over to a tree and walked straight up the side and into the lowest branch. He could feel Kakashi's eyes on him but ignored it and lay down, pulling out his own book. They sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the others. "Inu-nii..." He sighed, wanting to strike up some kind of conversation. "How many times... have you read this book?" He leaned his head back to look at the man who was staring straight back at him. "Who?" He finally asked and Naruto fell out of the tree, reaching out to find his team mates he sensed them still around 15 minutes away. He stomped up to the man and slipped his mask off, throwing it angrily to the side, having it clatter dangerously close to the edge. He could feel the stinging in his eyes and he gritted his teeth. "It's your turn to cut the bullshit! Another question!" The man sighed and slipped his book back into his pouch, he knelt down and stared at Naruto who glared back. "How many times..." He sniffed, a large lump working its way into his throat. "did I go to that damn memorial stone to look through the names, wondering whether the man I considered a brother was on there!" He yelled, clenching his fists in anger. As arms worked around him and he was pulled into a hug he began to cry, tears leaking from his eyes and into the man's shoulder.

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Sorry for the shortened chapter. Just felt like a good place to end it. As always, reviews and all that other b.s. welcome. Thanks for reading! Cya Saturday.


	6. Chapter 6

Got out of school yesterday and today due to storms. Chapter 1 day early! Here ya go.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except an Xbox. Clothes. Games. The computer I'm using to type the story. Etc.

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Naruto had stopped crying, and in a silent agreement between the two, picked up his mask and went back to the tree he had been in. They both pulled out their books and read in silence until the other two members of the team showed up.

The door to the roof opened and out came Sasuke, a disgusted look on his face as Sakura followed closely after, basically clinging to the boy. "Please, go out with me Sasuke-kun!" "No!" He glanced up and watched the exchange between the two. Kakashi seemed to do the same, and when the two came to sit in front of him, he waved Naruto over.

Complying quickly, he swung his legs over the tree, slipped his book back into his pocket, and slid off. Landing with barely any noise at all he walked over to the group, Sasuke eying him suspiciously the whole way while Sakura fawned over the boy. "Alright, now that everyone is here lets talk about ourselves. Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, stuff like that." Kakashi drawled lazily, his eye glancing over each member of the group and resting particularly on Sakura. "You first." Her eyes widened and she blurted out. "How about you introduce yourself first, sensei? As an example. You look kinda suspicious too." At this, Naruto had to stifle a laugh and his cheeks had puffed up a little bit. Being able to notice Kakashi's every reaction, mask or not, had it's perks, and when he had twitched just a tiny bit in annoyance at the ignorant girl's last comment, it made Naruto's day to say the least.

"Me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desires to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes... Dreams for the future? Hmmm, well I have lots of hobbies." He finished, a growing tick mark present on the pink girl's head. Naruto just had to release a little breath to relieve the laughter that was building up with each sentence. "Alright, now from the left, pinky." The girl mentioned went on, oblivious to the nickname now given to her.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like...Well, the person I like is..." Her arms tucked in and she turned a light pink while glancing at the raven-haired Uchiha next to her. "Ummm...Should I say my dream for the future?" More glances and a high pitched 'Squueee' brought Naruto's hands to his ears. "Holy fuck Sasuke, how in the hell do you put up with this?" He interrupted abruptly, turning to the boy next to him who was trying to hide his face in embarrassment. "Dislikes?" Kakashi asked, ignoring Naruto's obvious irritation "Naruto-baka and Ino-pig." Came the immediate reply, causing Naruto to roll his eyes and stand up. "Where might you be going, blondie?" Kakashi asked in a sharp tone, not happy that the boy was considering walking out on them."Stretching." Was the simple answer as Naruto's hands reached up, his back giving a satisfying crack as he did so. Sakura looked at him in disgust, a look of disbelief on her face. "Ewww, Naruto! How could you do something so barbaric?" She shouted at the boy, causing Kakashi to audibly sigh. "Next, emo." He waved his hand at the boy lazily.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really..." He trailed off, his hands clasped together at his mouth with his elbows resting on his knees. He seemed to be thinking his answer over for a second, causing Sakura to gasp in hopefully. "Yea. I don't really like anything. I wont use the word 'dream' but...I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man." He answered coldly, his eyes growing darker and causing the whole area to turn several degrees colder. "Alright. Blondie, you're up." Kakashi said after musing over the new found information, defusing the tense situation.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto lazily waved his hand, sitting down once again. "Uzumaki Naruto. Likes? Got 'em. Dislikes? Got them too. Dream? Best ninja in the world. Hobbies? Shogi with Shikamaru. Hanging out with the very few amount of friends I have." He went through quickly, a smirk on his face the whole time. "Naruto-baka, stop trying to be as cool as Sasuke!" Ah, now the smirk was gone. He turned to glare at Sakura but Kakashi grabbed their attention again. "That's enough of that. We will start our duties tomorrow." Naruto raised an eyebrow skeptically. "What kind of duties might these be?" "Something with just the four of us. Survival training." Naruto got a sudden sense of dread that something bad was going to happen tomorrow. "We did enough of that at the academy, sensei!" Came Sakura's voice in all its glory, causing Naruto to wince in actual physical pain. "I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training." Naruto had a feeling he knew what was coming. "And why might that be sensei?" He asked, despite all the signs telling him not to. At this, Kakashi started a laugh that he knew all too well. He was planning something. Something horrible. "Hey, what's so funny, sensei?" "No...Well...It's just that when I tell you this you guys are gonna flip..."Kakashi's head came to rest in his palm, a particularly evil look overcoming his face.

"Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult exam with failure rating of over 66%!" Naruto sighed in relief. _That was all it was. Thank god._ Sakura deadpanned, and Sasuke's face grew a bit more vicious with a trickle of sweat running down his cheek. "I told you you'd flip. Haha." They settled into silence for a few moments, Naruto starting to think of pulling out his book to read. "Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all of your Shinobi tools...Oh! Don't eat breakfast, you'll throw up. The details can be read on this handout. Don't be late!" As he was handed the sheet he stared at Kakashi for a moment, before finally accusing. "And who are you to tell _us _to not be late, Kakashi-_sensei?"_ Mockingly adding on the suffix to his name, Naruto had a smirk on his face as Kakashi twitched once again that day, Sakura ranting in the background about how she didn't want to throw up, suddenly going quiet at she looked over the sheet and grew a look of determination on her face. Sasuke crushed his paper and stood to leave, attracting Sakura to do the same calling 'Bye Kakashi-sensei' over her shoulder and running to cling to her crush.

The two left just stared at each other for a long time before Kakashi finally started chuckling. "Maa, maa, It's gonna be pretty tough for you, Naruto-kun. Don't you think you should run home now to get some sleep?" Naruto smiled lightly as Kakashi's eye turned up into his upside down U, symbolizing a smile. "Shut it, Kakashi-nii. I'm gonna kick your ass tomorrow." "Pffft, yea. That will be the day." Kakashi responded, ruffling his blond hair playfully. "Interesting change of outfit. I assume your little training expedition went well?" "Yup." Leaping up and giving the man a hug around the abdomen, he whispered. "I missed you so much." "Yea. I guess I could say the same." Kakashi softly replied, causing Naruto to look up at him with watery blue eyes and a puffed out lip. Kakashi rolled his one visible eye. "No. I can't come with you to get ramen, I have to report to the Hokage." Naruto dropped to the ground, landing once again with little sound. "Ugh, alright. Give the old man my hellos. Cya Kakashi-nii!" Naruto cheerfully exclaimed, running off after Kakashi disappeared in a Shunshin, leaving only a pile of leaves where he had been.

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Next day - 9 a.m.

Naruto sat straight up out of bed and looked at his alarm clock. Smiling a little to himself he stood up out of bed and threw his clothes on lazily. Same ones as yesterday of course. A frown covered his face as a strand of hair came down over his eyes and to around nose-length. He blew it up, strapped his Hitai-ate to his forehead, keeping his hair pushed back in a wild, unruly manner that made him look a bit intimidating. "I need a haircut today..." He noted, making his way to the door after grabbing the necessary weapons for what he thought Kakashi had planned out.

Beginning the walk to the training ground where they were supposed to meet...2 hours ago... he glanced around and pulled his hood up, the Kitsune mask coming over his face to block anyone from seeing it. Not two minutes after he started walking did someone run into his leg. Looking down he came across a brownish black, spiky mop of hair being held up by a pair of goggles, much like the ones he used to wear so long ago. Bending slightly, he offered a hand to the boy, who was sitting on his butt, rubbing his head in slight pain after running into what felt like a wall to him. "Hide me!" He said quickly, ignoring the offered hand and just jumping up on his own. "An old man is chasing me!" He added, looking quite desperately at the masked figure before him. "He wants to make me do things for him!" He persisted, insisting that Naruto hide him. "I can do something better..."Naruto offered, looking up and seeing a man wearing circle sunglasses running towards him. The boy was now pleading on the ground, and Ebisu, who was now in range was bending down, reaching down for him while muttering something about having to train the 'honorable grandson'. That is until Naruto flexed all the muscles in his arm, bringing his arm back and forming a fist. He swung up, connecting dead-center to the tokubetsu-jonin's face.

Ebisu skidded a good five feet back, hand reaching up to dab his nose. He bit back a hiss when the searing pain hits him. Naruto just stared up at the man from behind his mask. "Care to explain why you are chasing little boys around?" He asked, having to keep amusement out of his voice as his hand came to rest back at his side. Ebisu on the other hand was not happy. "And who might you be?" He asked, a cold tone to his voice as he adjusted his glasses carefully. "I don't seem to remember the ANBU having a Kitsune in their ranks. An enemy spy perhaps?" At this Naruto just had to burst out laughing, holding his side slightly. "That is pretty funny. Ever thought of giving up on the whole Shinobi thing and becoming a comedian?" He asked mockingly. "Don't be so cocky. You just caught me off guard is all. Now, explain yourself!" At this, Naruto just smirked and reached up to the mask, not really caring about the growing crowd that had surrounded the scene. Just as he was about to slip his mask off, a figure appeared in front of him.

"Ah, Kakashi-n sensei." He forced, finally noticing who the figure was. Now he was just beginning to sweat a bit. "Don't you 'Kakashi-sensei' me. What the hell are you doing! I'm on my way to the training grounds and passing by I see one of my students punch another Konoha Shinobi in the face!" Kakashi was now shouting at him, causing Naruto to wince just a bit. "Well you see, here I am walking, and suddenly this kid runs in to me, telling me an old man is trying to get him to do things. Obviously I reacted to this the only way I could think of, and punched the guy in the face as he was about to grab the brat." He defends, causing everyone in the crowd to sweat drop. Kakashi suspiciously turns his eye to Ebisu. "Might this be true?" He asks, his one visible eye quirked in questioning. "Yes...Well no...Not exactly. He twisted my words!" He now yells, pointing to the boy between them, who was giggling the whole time. Kakashi just sighed and grabbed his arm, dragging him in the direction of their training grounds. He knew who the man was, and really didn't have time for this. "Come on Naruto, were late." Naruto deadpanned. "We've been late for nearly 3 hours now."

Kakashi stopped, and Naruto heard him mutter. "Thank kami, my reputation isn't ruined." He grinned and broke free from Kakashi's grip while the man was thinking. With that they just continued their silent walk next to each other. "That was a good punch, Naruto-kun." Kakashi finally spoke, a hint of pride in his voice. After that, Naruto just beamed with joy the whole way to their meeting spot.

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Review, and all that junk. Sorry for the shortness, new chapter tomorrow also!


	7. Chapter 7

My first review!

**geetac: **I am very glad to hear that you liked the chapter.

Sorry for the late release.

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

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Walking particularly close as they came to the training ground, Naruto broke away a little bit a few seconds before they came into view, as to avoid suspicions. Following just around 5 feet behind Kakashi, Naruto heard him call to the other two members of his team, waving a hand into the air nonchalantly.

"Hey guys, good morning!" "YOU'RE LATE!" Screamed Sakura, causing Naruto's eye to twitch violently. "YOU TOO NARUTO-BAKA!" She added, pointing an accusing figure at said person's form behind the team's sensei.

"Dobe, Why are you with Kakashi-sensei(**1)**?" Ah, there was Sasuke. He was wondering when the Uchiha would speak up. "I caught Naruto getting into a little trouble this morning." Spoke Kakashi nearly instantly with a cold tone forced into his voice. "Of course he would be. He's nothing like Sasuke-kun here." Spoke Sakura with a tone of arrogance in her voice, causing Kakashi to give a twitch only noticeable to him. Kakashi gave a sigh, and pointed to the spot beside the Uchiha and pink haired girl. "We don't have time for this. Naruto, go stand next to those two so I can explain your test." Nodding, Naruto went to the position and stared expectantly at Kakashi, whom had now pulled out an alarm clock and put it on the stump he was stood next to. "OK, It's set for noon. See these two bells?" He asked, holding two bells up next to his face for emphasis. "Your task is to take them from me before noon. Those who cannot get the bells by noon..." _Pause for dramatic effect, eh, Kakashi-nii? _Naruto mentally asked while rolling his eyes. "...get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll eat right in front of you. You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And... the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So, at least one of you will be sent back to academy." The air became quite tense after that, a frown forming on Naruto's face while a scowl was on Sasuke's.

"You can even use your Shurikens. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill." And it was at this point Sakura decided to interrupt. "But you'll be in danger!" "Sakura... you do know that he's a jonin for a reason, right? We would only be able to injure him if we did something _really _special. That is probably what he is looking for." With that he sent a wink at Kakashi, having already figured out the whole point of the test. He had to agree that it was indeed quite genius. Kakashi at this point went from slight shock to amusement, to a bit of disappointment. He had really hoped he could have sent the pink haired girl back, despite it not being a true part of the test. Well, whatever. When they passed maybe a few missions would change her attitude.

At this, Sasuke's scowl deepened, but he nodded his head slightly in agreement. Sakura turned and raised her hands in the air, shouting at Naruto. "Be quiet, Baka! The only one here who could hope to do something to impress sensei is Sasuke-kun!" She went to hit him over the back of the head, and was caught off guard at Kakashi's announcement, which caused Naruto to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Start!" Sasuke had already disappeared, which left Sakura standing alone in front of their team leader before scrambling to hide. Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck in boredom, looking around and giving an approving nod. "The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well!" He called. Who he was on particular look out for right now was Naruto. That had been a Kawarimi before, and the boy completely dropped off the radar. Two Shuriken flying out of the water had not surprised him, and he turned, bringing his arm up to catch them on two fingers, the two dangerous weapons still spinning.

Now that he had Kakashi distracted, the real Naruto slipped from his hiding spot and made his way over to where he thought Sasuke was. Surprisingly enough, an arm was stuck out of a tree and had waved him over. Complying cautiously he went over, and when he got into the tree he was once again surprised to see Sasuke actually there. "Dobe." He said simply, his eyes still on the spot where Naruto clones had burst from the water and were engaging Kakashi in Taijutsu, the man in question already had his book out and was lazily blocking, while retaliating with quick sharp movements that popped the Kage Bunshin's on impact. "Sasuke. I figure you plan on going out to fight Kakashi-sensei when myself and Sakura are beaten?" At the slight widening of the eyes of the Uchiha, Naruto took that as a yes. "Then you completely fail our sensei's test." He muttered.

"And why is that, dobe?" Sasuke growled, turning wildly back on Naruto. "Teamwork. Think about it Sasuke! You're not retarded, are you? What would be the point of placing us in three-man teams if one were to just be booted off! The reason there are two bells are to cause chaos amongst the team and to make them fight amongst each other, much like we are doing now." Naruto whispered harshly, not really intent on attracting Kakashi's attention. "How can you be sure of this?" Sasuke whispered back, a irritation lacing his question. "Just trust me. Hell, I'll even go along with your plan, _if you have one." _Answered Naruto, muttering the last part angrily. At the silence of the other boy he gave a foxy grin, knowing he had one the boy over, if just a little bit. "No? Alright then, I'll tell you mine."

After a short time of whispering back and forth between the two, Sasuke questioning nearly every move in the plan they finally finished after hearing a screech. "Alright, time to enact the plan. Since that was Sakura he is probably trying to find us now, keep a look out and stay within range of each other." With a slow nod from the other boy he turned away, breaking off as discussed in the plan. "Dobe." He stopped, Sasuke sounded hesitant. He couldn't be backing out now, could he? "...nice plan." The other boy muttered begrudgingly before jumping into the trees in the direction of where the scream had come from. Slightly shocked at the appraisal, he froze a bit longer than he was supposed to and had to rush to catch up, staying well behind the other boy but close enough to see the flickers of his movements once in a while.

After a few minutes of jumping they came across a clearing with Kakashi leaning on a tree in the middle. Staying hidden in a tree on the outskirts, Naruto watched on with interest. _I wonder if Kakashi-nii can sense me? _He mused, knowing that if he did, the plan would be partly ruined. The surprise at least. Waiting for the signal, Nauto continued to watch the fight, Kakashi blocking the blows from the Uchiha's remarkable taijutsu style accordingly. At one point he had came close to touching the bells but still hadn't been able to. With one last moment, the Uchiha gave their signal. He used his Goukakyuu no Jutsu, seemingly burning Kakashi alive. Naruto was looking around wildly, and quickly made the hand seals for Kawarimi, trading places with the Uchiha and leaping back just in time to avoid being grabbed by Kakashi emerging from the ground and attempting to trap him using the Doton - Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu. Kakashi's eye widened once again for the second time, the first being as Sasuke used his Jutsu.

Not giving the man time to react, Naruto dashed forward, a glint of light shined off metal as he pulled a Kunai from the strap on his right, holding it with the end of the blade pointing behind him. He slipped Shuriken from his other pouch, the weapons flying past the jonin as he dodged them with ease, his eye on Naruto the whole time.

Naruto, once he felt he was in close enough, slashed out, the end of the weapon sliding harmlessly through the air as Kakashi danced out of reach. A smirk came across Naruto's face as he channeled Chakra to the balls of his feet, leaning forward on them ever so slightly and releasing the Chakra in a tight burst, making him flicker and appear in front of Kakashi again, this time with the tip of the weapon already cutting through the air in the direction of the string holding on of the bells. Kakashi, on the other hand was surprised by the burst of speed, but could still follow it. He brought his hand down on top of Naruto's, shoving the dangerous weapon into the ground and hopefully throwing off balance. He was surprised yet again as Naruto used the momentum and flipped over, doing a full front flip while leaving the Kunai embedded in the ground and bringing his right leg down in an axe kick meant for Kakashi's head.

Displeasure shown on his face as the jonin brought his arms together in a cross-arm block, effectively nullifying the damage to himself. Frowning, Naruto brought his other leg close to his body and kicked out, this time thrusting his foot in the direction of Kakashi's masked-face. Kakashi dropped his guard and grabbed Naruto's ankle, yanking it and throwing the boy past him. Naruto flipped and landed on his feet in the direction of Kakashi, sliding a few feet before coming to a stop. A cheeky grin overcame his face as he made the hand seals for the Kage Bunshin, only bringing forth one, who quickly moved back away from the fight with a calculating look on his face.

Naruto charged yet again, not giving Kakashi any time to ponder the reason of the one clone. Kakashi jumped up as Naruto attempted to sweep his legs out from under him and pulled a Kunai to block a barrage of Shuriken, thrown by the clone whom was now drawing Kunai, a calm look still on his face. Kakashi used his cross-arm block yet again as Naruto spear kicked at his abdomen. He had to twist his body slightly to avoid the Kunai thrown from the clone in an attempt to cut the string to the bells. They continued like this for some minutes. As he landed back on the ground a few feet away, he felt a sudden sense pride as he glanced down to a spot between the two of them. The clone dispelled as the bell rolled around. Naruto stared straight at Kakashi, which was returned. Reaching up to wipe a bit of sweat that was dripping down the exposed temple, he eye smiled, which was disturbingly copied by Naruto, the boy's head tilted slightly to the side.

Feeling the heat building up behind him, he quickly performed the Kawarimi, switching with a log he spotted some yards off to the right. Looking back to where he had been, he spotted a now exhausted Sasuke nearly collapsing as he used the last of his Chakra on finishing the Goukakyuu. Naruto slowly walked to where the bell was, leaned down to pick it up, and was instantly at Sasuke's side as the other boy finally collapsed. He threw the Uchiha's arm over his neck and smiled lightly, walking over to the tree line and letting Sasuke lean back against one of them. He looked at the bell, frowned, then put the bell in Sasuke's hand. A look of utter disbelief and surprise instantly showed on his face as Naruto turned and walked towards Kakashi, not even sparing a single glance back. He did the exact same eye-smile he had done before. Sakura had shown up just in time to see Sasuke steadying himself on the tree with bell in hand. Of course she squealed and ran over to him.

"Well, Kakashi-nii. Did we pass?" Naruto asked in a quiet, but cheery voice.

Kakashi chucked, shaking his head with his eye closed. "Of course you do!" He exclaimed happily.

* * *

Yes, yes, I know. I _suck _writing fights. I just couldn't seem to find the words to describe it correctly. Anyway. Review, and all that junk.


	8. Chapter 8

Wow. Lots more reviews now! Seeing a new review message in my inbox just makes my day and makes me want to write more and more

Reviews:

**Xeraki**: Honestly... when writing the chapters before I had come across this as well. I try to keep it to a minimum in this chapter, if at all. The grammar and spelling errors I have never really noticed before as my computer usually automatically corrects them for me. I thank you for pointing these out, and will make sure to run my chapters through Word and to read them over myself a few times before posting. Thanks again, and I hope you are also doing well for yourself.

**Ren chan Anime**: The reason I had said my writing of fights sucks is because something just didn't sit right with me while reading it over. I offer thanks, and I can only hope to live up to yours, and my own expectations of making this story great as I continue writing.

**crashbreaka**: I will try to follow this advice, and will go to fix the chapters as requested. I definitely agree with you as when I look through the traffic many people only view the authors note, and not any more chapters. I also agree with you on the wordage of my chapters. I will work to spend time improving the length. Character bashing was definitely on my mind as I thought of ideas for my story. At one point I had not really wanted to, then I did, and then I didn't again. In the end there probably will be some slight character bashing of Sakura, but only early on in the timeline, as there is currently. I am happy to see there is someone out there reading my fic who enjoys that story as well.

Thank you all for your reviews, and I will definitely follow advice given. Hopefully it will be reflected in this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. That's right, I'm a hobo. This fic does not exist. It's in everyone's head.

* * *

All the members of team 7 were sitting around the 3 stumps in the clearing. Naruto being tied to the stump while Kakashi taunted him by waving a lunch box in front of his face. Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously while Kakashi chuckled and continued with his taunting.

"Damn it Kakashi! Give me that lunch!" He finally yelled, starting to struggle with his robe bindings.

"Ah, but Naruto, while you may have passed it does not mean I would not tie you to the log and eat in front of you." Kakashi said cheerily, a mocking eye smile coming onto his visible features.

"I'll kill you!" Naruto growled. _Damn Kakashi-nii. Tying me to this damn log just to piss me off. _He pushed out again, his muscles visibly bulging with the strain. A single rope actually snapped from his struggling before he fell limp, panting heavily.

"I'll...kill...you." He repeated, exhaustion lacing his voice this time. Kakashi chuckled again before turning solemn, prompting Naruto to go silent.

"Kakashi-sensei, I have been wondering, you said if we didn't get a bell we would be tied to a stump and sent back to the academy. Only Sasuke-kun got a bell with his awesome skills, so why did Naruto-baka and me pass as well?" Sakura asked, tapping a chin on her chin while staring up at the sky in thinkingn

"In fact, I was just about to tell you, Sakura. The whole point of this test was in fact, teamwork." He said, causing Sakura to gasp and Naruto to just shake his head in wonder. _She hadn't realized?_ Naruto thought, barely able to comprehend how she was smartest in their class.

"You, Sakura, only have your sights set on Sasuke, and failed to even think whether Naruto had a hand in him getting the bell. While their was only two of you working together in this exercise, I still passed you since I took out Sakura before she could become aware of your plan." He said jerking his thumb at Naruto, who jumped slightly in surprise that Kakashi had known it was his plan.

"We are in a line of work where you will be risking your lives, and you will have to be able to put your trust into your teammates." Kakashi walked slowly away from the group and put his hand on top of a stone carrying numerous names carved into it. The Memorial Stone.

"Look at this. The numerous names carved on this stone. These are Shinobi who are recognized as heroes of the village..." With that, Naruto let his head hang slightly, his blond locks coming over his Hitai-ate to cover his eyes. "...but they aren't normal heroes." Kakashi paused for a moment, causing Sakura to perk up.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei, what kind of heroes are they?" She asked, honest curiosity working it's way into her voice.

It was Naruto who answered her, raising his head and all but snarling out. "Isn't it obvious?! KIA, MIA! EVERY PERSON ON THAT STONE IS GONE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!" His two teammates flinched away, Sakura with a hurt look on her face, Sasuke looking surprised at the ferocity of the blond.

"That's enough, Naruto." Kakashi said softly. "This is a memorial. The name of my best friend is on this stone." He turned to look at the three of them, a Kunai whizzing out at a speed which two of them were unable to follow, slicing the ropes binding Naruto. Naruto stood straight up, and began walking away from the group, a frown slapped on his face and a soft look in his eyes as he walked passed Kakashi, pulling his Icha Icha book from his pocket and flipping it open to the page he left off on.

"A Shinobi must see underneath the underneath..."Kakashi said, turning his head to watch as Naruto passed, a smile on his face underneath the mask as he remembered giving Naruto the exact same speech. "Those who break the rules and codes of the Shinobi World are called trash...but, you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades... are lower than trash." He finished, an eerie wind coming to blow through the clearing as silence overcame the group. Naruto had now stopped, and glanced back at Kakashi, a soft, small smile sitting on his face.

"That ends the training. All of you pass! Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin it's duties." All of them grabbed their packs which they had brought with them, stood up and followed Kakashi over to an awaiting Naruto."Lets go." He said, pulling out his own Icha Icha book as they all left the clearing.

* * *

Next Day -

Naruto knelt down by the Memorial Stone, running his thumb over the name of the Yondaime. His father. Sighing heavily he stood, and started to walk in the direction of the bridge where Kakashi had told them to meet.

"2 Hours late." He mumbled, pulling his book from his pocket and his Kitsune mask over his face. Arriving, he had to stop himself from reaching to cover his ears at a loud screech, directed at him.

"You're late, Naruto-baka! Kami, you're just like Kakashi-sensei." He scoffed, feigning hurt as he looked at her.

"Please, Sakura, I take offense to that. I'm nowhere close to Kakashi's level of being late. For example, I am only two and a half hours late, while he is three. At least I make an attempt to be here on time." He spoke, walking over to the railing and leaning back on his elbow, book still in front of his face. "I wonder what our first D-rank mission will be like?" He mused out loud, the other 2 silently agreeing with him. Hoping to sit in silence for 30 minutes was blown out the window when Sakura started her fawning over her 'Sasuke-kun', who rejected all her attempts to ask him out.

"Please, Sasuke-kun? Just this once?" Sakura whined, effectively breaking Naruto out of the meager concentration he had on his book. Looking up he was greeted to the sight of Sakura hugging Sasuke tightly, refusing to let go as he halfheartedly tried to push her away.

"No! Go away from me!" The other boy grumbled, pushing once more against the girl trying to cuddle him. Rolling his eyes, Naruto was about to return to reading his book when he was greeted with a familiar voice.

"Yo." Kakashi waved as he approached the genin team on the bridge, drawing Sasuke and Sakura's routine to a close as Sakura pointed accusingly at him.

"You're late!" She screeched, while he eye smiled back at her.

"Ah, you see Sakura, I found a baby bird that had fallen out of it's nest and had to nurse it back to health."

"LIAR!" She muttered under her breath.

"Alright then, follow me to the mission counter." He said, turning and heading in the direction of the Hokage Tower with the 3 following close behind. Unnoticed by the other two, Naruto was walking side by side with Kakashi, neither with their books out.

"Ne, Kakashi-nii, what will you be choosing for our first mission?" Naruto whispered under his breath, glancing nervously around from behind his mask, afraid of someone hearing.

"Well. I plan to make you go through what my sensei made me go through, and, if its available, have you guys catch Tora the cat." Kakashi responded, his hands shoved into his pockets as they neared the tower.

"Ah." Was all Naruto said while behind his mask he had paled slightly, having heard of Tora from some older Nins and definitely not liking the sound of it.

When they reached the mission counter, he had seen Kakashi silently ask for the specific scroll, and when the Chuunin behind the desk nodded with a significantly evil smirk on his face, Naruto felt the blood leave his face, and started pouting, hoping that in some way he could make Kakashi's day worse.

Kakashi only chuckled at his immaturity and led them to where the cat was last seen. They had found it lying comfortably in the high branch of a tree on the outskirts of Konoha's wall. She lazily groomed herself, and snapped to attention as they approached. Naruto stared in awe. _This cat carries the same aura as the wild animals of the forest. _He thought, running a hand through his hair as his two teammates darted off and started to chase the cat as it leaped skillfully away and deeper into the forest.

"Not going to follow, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi spoke up, slight concern edging his voice at Naruto's odd behavior.

"Oh! Sorry Kakashi-nii!" He started, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassment. "I was just wondering...that cat, she is so much like the animals in the forest. She's wild. I think I could coax her into coming back with us." He finished, leaving Kakashi staring at him, his mouth hanging open underneath the mask. Naruto laughed as Kakashi recovered himself and shook his head in amusement.

"You'll never cease to surprise me." Kakashi drawled, patting a hand on Naruto's back.

"Well, go get her."

And with that, Naruto's form flashed as he sped into the trees, only the trained eyes of Team 7's sensei able to follow him, a glint of pride shining the whole time.

* * *

1 week later -

Naruto watched as the cat was suffocated in the arms of Madam Shijimi, shaking his head with closed eyes in mourning.

"Poor cat..." He mumbled, the cat loudly voicing it's disagreement to the treatment it was being given. It had been a week since they started their genin duties, and the 5th time they had to let Naruto catch the cat. Despite the missions being used to improve teamwork it had become something of an unspoken rule amongst Team 7 to let Naruto handle anything animal-wise.

Sighing he focused on the Sandaime to hear him finishing off the listing of more D-ranks.

"Old man. These D-ranks are easy as shit. C-rank, now." He demanded lazily, half lidded eyes signifying his lack of sleep.

"Alright." He responded, pulling out a scroll, causing everyone in the room to face-fault. Everyone except Iruka, who was gawking whilst staring off into the middle of nowhere. Walking over and waving his hand in front of Iruka's face, he got no reaction. With a shrug he turned back to Hiruzen.

"Here we are... A perfect mission for Team 7. Could you come in here?" Hiruzen called, the door creaking open, prompting everyone to look over to it. Everyone except Iruka, still in his state of absolute shock. There in the doorway stood an aged man with a bottle of sake, one hand on his hip while the other clutched the bottle, leaning on the door with his elbow.

"What's this!? They're all a bunch of brats! Especially the shortest one with the blonde hair. Is he even a Shinobi?" The man slurred, obviously a bit buzzed from his recent drinking. With a defiant glare set on the man, Naruto stomped over, drawing raised eyebrows from a few in the room, and snatched the bottle from the man's hand. Bringing it up to his lips in a quick motion, he tilted it back and forced down the burning, bitter tasting drink. Everyone gaped at him as he shoved the bottle back to Tazuna.

"How'z that for a brat, huh?" He asked, a slight buzz coming to his head. Kakashi, of course, being the first to break out of the shock, stomped over to Naruto and flicked him on the nose.

"Bad Naruto! Bad!" He scolded, shaking his finger in the boy's face with each 'bad'. Naruto gaped at the older man for a few moments before his look turned into one of pure rage.

"Why you-!" He growled, swinging out at Kakashi comically as the older man held him back with a single hand held to his head, reading the Icha Icha book in the other. Tazuna was laughing boisterously in the background while Hiruzen shook his head in exasperation. Iruka had now fainted and was lying face down on the ground. Sasuke and Sakura were still gawking at Naruto as he continued to swing at empty air as his short arms couldn't reach the much taller Kakashi.

Inwardly, Hiruzen was laughing while he watched the two. _Ah, those two really are like brothers... _He thought, a smile coming to his face at the comic display before him.

Soon after everything had calmed down and everyone was leaving (except Iruka) he watched as the two walked closely to each other, both reading their Icha Icha books. A frown marred his face as the door slowly creaked closed.

_They keep away the madness that threatens to consume the other... _He thought solemnly, wincing slightly at the mistakes he had made in his old life. _Would you be happy with how they have turned out, Minato? Two souls, one losing his father to the dark side of this village, while your own son nearly loses himself... _With a sigh, the old Hokage returned to the mountain of paperwork accumulated on his desk.

* * *

As always, Review, and all that junk.


	9. Chapter 9

I thank everyone for continued support.

Reviews

LavenderMYSTery: I'm glad to see you found my attempts at humor funny. For what lies ahead, we will have to only wait and see, my friend, wait and see.

Ren chan Anime: Ah, come on now, I wouldn't say I'm 'EPIC'. I still have a lot to improve on. Iruka...Well, Iruka had a meeting with disbelief. Soon after, he was knocked unconscious with shock. Haku... I thought long and hard about Haku and Zabuza, and honestly, I can't say I am really sure what I'm going to do with them as I write this. I REALLY do like both of them. I can only hope whatever I decide to do will leave you satisfied.

* * *

It had been about 30 minutes since they had passed through the gate and everything had been relatively quiet...until now. Naruto was walking silently, his hands stuffed in his pocket as his eyes flickered between everything suspicious. His eyes came to rest on a small puddle off to the side on the dirt path. He glanced at Kakashi, whose eyes were now on the same puddle, if just for a second, and returned to his lazy look. Following suit, as to not interfere with whatever Kakashi had planned, he returned his gaze to the path ahead. Kakashi slowly began to lag behind, obviously intent on making himself the target.

Soon after they had passed the puddle two nins burst from it and wrapped a chain that extended from the gauntlets they were wearing on their right arms. The chain wrapped around Kakashi, the man appearing surprised to an untrained eye.

His two teammates and Tazuna whipped around wide eyed.

"What's this?" He heard Sakura shout, a lace of fear edging her voice. Sasuke looked slightly perturbed, but nonetheless kept his cool.

"One down." The two nins spoke at the same time, yanking the chain in unison and making 'Kakashi' splash down in the puddle, presumably in pieces. They moved quickly behind him, dragging the chain along.

"Two down." They continued, and he was about to dodge before a Shuriken slammed into the deadly weapon, pinning it to a tree. A Kunai followed soon after and hit inside the ring of the Shuriken, rendering the chain useless. One of the nin gave a pull before he realized he couldn't free the chain. He had realized a little too late as Sasuke had now landed on their outstretched gauntlets in a squatting position. He grabbed the gauntlets on their arms and kicked back, his feet slamming into both of the nin's faces and sending them leaning back as the chain twitched in stress.

With a loud 'CHINK' and a rattling sound the chain freed itself from the holes in the gauntlets, the two dashing in opposite directions as Sasuke landed in a kneeling position. One attacked Naruto, the other going for their obvious target, Tazuna. The enemy thrust his gauntlet at him, fingers pinched together to form a spear-like attack. With an open palm he leaned to the left, pushing the dangerous attack away from him with his right hand as it flew past, throwing the attacker off balance at the same time. With a lazy look, he clenched his left hand into a fist and snapped out a vicious attack. A punch straight to the temple with such force behind it that the nin crashed into the ground, his mask gaining a crack from the attack. It left the enemy dazed and Naruto stood straight, shoving one hand in the pocket as he looked to see Kakashi using the other enemy's momentum as his own, catching the other in a headlock that obviously shocked the man.

Naruto rolled his eyes, but then brought his hand up and looked at it, clenching and unclenching thoughtfully. Kakashi and the others approached him, and he looked up, gaining a wary look from Kakashi.

"You all right?" The man asked, using his usual lazy voice to cover the concern that would have showed. With a shrug he looked at Tazuna.

"Is he alright?" Naruto asked, letting his hand drop to his side carelessly.

"No, Naruto, you're not alright. Their weapons were poisoned." Kakashi said, ignoring the question and letting his voice grow a bit more stern. A silence overtook the group after that, and it was quickly broken by Sakura.

"Well, sensei, do something!" She screeched, pointing at him accusingly. Kakashi looked as if he were about to say something until Naruto interrupted.

"He can't, Sakura. This is what happens on a battlefield. There are things some people can't do, even your precious 'Sasuke-kun'. I will die if this is not treated and Kakashi is probably debating whether to leave the old man here right now. I'm not gonna let that happen. Watch, Haruno. This is the world of Shinobi." Kakashi nodded his head slightly in approval as Naruto pulled a Kunai from his pouch, tossing it in the air and letting it spin for a second before snatching it in a reverse grip. He stared at Sakura with a bored expression as he plunged the Kunai into his hand, straight through the back of it and out his palm. Blood squirted from the wound, splattering Naruto's vest with it until it died down into a tiny river leaking from his hand. Everyone was open-mouthed except Kakashi. He stared at Naruto for a second before putting his hand on his shoulder and leading him away from the group.

"I'm going to fix him up!" The jonin called over his shoulder, leaving an awe-struck group behind him.

* * *

"You didn't have to do that much, you know. A simple cut would have been fine." Kakashi muttered angrily, now bandaging Naruto's hand after he was sure the poison was drained.

"Sometimes I question your sanity." Finished Kakashi with a tug, tearing the bandage and leaving Naruto's hand completely fine. Naruto gave a goofy grin to Kakashi.

"As do I for yours, Kakashi-nii." He spoke, jumping up quickly and turning away, his voice becoming quiet. "As do I for yours..."

Kakashi put a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder, causing the boy to look at him. He saw a dark glint in the eyes that caused him to almost flinch. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the fact he had seen the same dark glint before. In his own eye. Reflected in the mirror.

With a sigh he turned, motioning for the boy to follow.

"Come on, Naruto-kun." He spoke softly. "It's time to get back to the others."

With a nod, Naruto followed the older man back to the group. A deep sigh was heard from Tazuna as the man closed his eyes in thinking for a few moments before opening them to look at Kakashi.

"I need to talk with you... This mission...it's probably outside of your duties. A super dangerous man is after my life." He paused, letting the information sink in.

"Who?" Kakashi asked after a few moments of eerie silence. Tazuna heaved another sigh.

"You've probably heard his name at least. The wealthy shipping magnate, a man named Gatou." Kakashi's demeanor instantly changed.

"Gatou!? From that Gatou Company? He's said to be one of the world's few extremely wealthy people!"

"Yes... officially he runs a large shipping company but secretly he sells drugs and other illegal items, using Shinobi and gang members to take over businesses and other countries. He's a very nasty man... It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on the Wave country. Through money and violence he quickly took control of the country's shipping industry. Gatou now has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge I am building." Tazuna finished, leaving the genin to make their own deductions on the new information. They quickly voiced their own thoughts.

"I see... since you're building the bridge, you're in the way." Oh, she does have a brain in that head of hers. Naruto noted, rolling his eyes slightly at the obvious statement.

"So...those Shinobi were hired by Gatou?" He had to resist the urge to laugh in the apparent 'top of the class' boy's face.

Naruto just remained silent, staring at the ground with his hood up.

"What I don't understand is if you knew the fact that Shinobi could be after you, why hide that fact when you hired us?" Kakashi asked, fixing the bridge builder with a calculative gaze.

"The Wave country is super poor. Even the feudal lord has no money. Of course we don't have money either, not enough for the expensive B-rank mission. Well, if you quit the mission now I will definitely be killed, but, don't worry about it! If I die my cute 10 year-old grandson will just cry for days!" Tazuna exclaimed, drawing a raised eyebrow from Naruto, and slightly defeated looks from Sakura and Kakashi.

"Well, I guess we have no choice then! We will protect you at least until you get back to your country!." Kakashi sheepishly explained, a triumphant look coming over Tazuna's face.

* * *

They sat in the boat quietly, moving through the thick mist in silence as they made their way towards Wave. Naruto had his chin in his palm with his elbow on the edge of the boat, staring wistfully off into the distance.

"We should see the bridge soon. The Wave country is at the base of it." The guide explained, an outline slowly coming into view.

After a few moments they could see the large bridge in all it's glory. Although no one said anything, they were all amazed by the size of it. Tazuna seemed to be glowing with pride.

"Compensating for something?" Naruto finally asked, turning to Tazuna with a foxy grin on his face. The bridge builder tinged red for a second before calming down.

"As a matter of fact, I'm not."

"Oh, really? Ah, nevermind, I don't really want to know." The man huffed in displeasure and turned away from him, he just kept a small smirk on his face as he turned to look back over the water again.

After another few moments of silence, the guide spoke up again.

"We'll be there soon. Tazuna, it looks like we have avoided detection so far...but, just in case, we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make us harder to spot."

"Thanks."

The group docked, goodbyes were said, and now they were walking through the forest in foreboding silence once again. Naruto's eyes drifted over their surroundings cautiously.

He still held a lazy slouch, but was tensed and ready to move if need be. It was times like these that he would have loved his Kitsune mask. It was oddly comforting to have the piece of clay over his face.

"Get down!" Kakashi yelled suddenly, Naruto's body instantly reacted to the command and crashed into the ground to avoid the spinning blade that flew overhead. Leaping back up he assessed the situation. Everyone appeared to be unharmed, and there new enemy was stood atop the hilt of the absolutely massive blade that was embedded into the tree.

"Well well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's missing nin Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi called, prompting a narrowing of Naruto's eyes. The name certainly sounded familiar.

"Everyone stay back. He's on a whole other level." Naruto nearly gasped as Kakashi's hand went up to the forehead protector covering his left eye. He's going to use the Sharingan? This guy must be very dangerous.

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi. Sorry, but the old man is mine." Zabuza responded, the surprise that flashed across Sasuke's face did not go unnoticed by both Naruto and Kakashi.

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san. Do not enter the fight. That's the teamwork here." Kakashi spoke, not turning to look at them.

"Zabuza..." Team 7's jonin leader continued, lifting the Hitai-ate covering his eye at the same time. "First, fight me."

"Ah, I already get to see the famous Sharingan, I'm honored. When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's assassin team our bingo book had information on you. It said that you copied over 1,000 jutsu with that eye. Copy Ninja Kakashi." Zabuza taunted, turning to face the team. After a moment he crouched down on the weapon he was balancing on.

"Now...let's end all the talking. I have to kill that man. But...it seems I'll have to beat you first, Kakashi." In a blur, Zabuza had kicked off the tree, pulling the large sword with him. Looking down, Team 7 spotted him on the water, in the middle of a hand sign.

"On top of the water!" Sakura whispered in awe as a thick mist began to roll into the area.

"He'll come after me first. Zabuza Momochi…as a member of the Hidden Mist, he was known as a master in silent killing. You don't even know until you're dead. It's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful." Kakashi explained, his eyes becoming serious.

"8 choices..." Zabuza's voice resounding around them. "Liver. Lungs. Spine. Clavical Vein. Neck Vein. Brain. Kidneys. Heart. Which one should I go after?"

Suddenly, a massive KI flooded the group, Sasuke starting to shake at the intensity of it. Naruto glanced over at him in worry. KI could make some men kill themselves.

"Sasuke, don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." Kakashi looked over to them, his eye curving upward in his signature eye smile.

"I don't let my comrades die."

Zabuza instantly appeared in the middle of the group, crouching downwards with his one hand formed into the Ram seal. Naruto jumped backwards as Kakashi flew into the enemy, burying a Kunai deep into Zabuza's gut. Water exploded everywhere as Naruto's eyes flashed behind Kakashi.

"Kakashi, behind!" He shouted, sighing in relief as the sword cut through only water.

The battle continued for a short while, each dodging and retreating respectively. It ended with Kakashi being trapped inside of a Water prison.

"Now then, Kakashi, we can finish things later. I'll take care of them for now." More water clones began to rise, causing Sakura to begin panicking.

"Hehe, wearing Hitai-ate and acting like real ninja, but you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Basically once you're good enough to be listed in my bingo book…then you can be called Shinobi. Right now, you should not be referred to as Shinobi."

Naruto didn't have time to dodge as a foot came to abruptly smash into his face and throw off his Hitai-ate. Stars danced through his vision, and through the ringing in his ears he was sure he could hear Kakashi yelling for them to run away. Reaching up to touch his forehead, Naruto's eyes widened as he found his Hitai-ate was gone. He looked down at the Zabuza clone's foot as the missing nin stepped on the treasured object. His blonde hair came over his eyes, a dark shadow hiding his face. His whole body began to quiver, Zabuza raising an eyebrow.

"Scared, boy?" The enemy nin taunted, grinding his foot into the Hitai-ate for emphasis.

"Let me tell you a story. At your age these hands..." Zabuza's clone brought his hand up, showing it to the genin. "Were already dyed red with blood."

"Ah, cool story, but I beat you out, sorry." Naruto interrupted, Kakashi looking away and closing his eyes regretfully.

"5." He said simply, raising his head to stare into Zabuza, his form blurred as he appeared right in front of the real Zabuza, surprising the older nin. What he whispered shocked the Demon of Hidden Mist to no end.

"I was five years old when I was tortured by members of my own village. I can show you the scars if you want, ne?" His voice carried a childish innocence to it, obviously fake.

"How about it, Zabuza? Give up here, come back with us. I can convince the old man to help you find a place in Konoha." Zabuza hesitated. The offer sounded so tempting to him that he was really contemplating taking it. He closed his eyes in silence before grabbing the sword from his back and slicing through Naruto's form in front of him.

Naruto ducked under the sword, jumping up to avoid the attack at his legs.

"No deal, huh? A shame, really. Kakashi! Now!" Zabuza's eyes widened. He let Kakashi go! A torrent of water smashed into his side and made him crash into a tree on shore. He looked up at the approaching Kakashi, feeling himself growing weaker by the second. Damn. Zabuza let a mere boy shake him, and now he was paying the price.

Two senbon suddenly burst from the trees and pierced his throat, 'killing' him.

Everyone turned to see what appeared to be a hunter nin standing atop a branch a few feet away, looking in their direction.

The figure flashed, appearing next to Zabuza's body, bowing to them slightly.

"Thank you. I have been searching for an opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time." Everyone glanced suspiciously, Kakashi kneeling down by Zabuza's body and feeling his neck for a pulse. The white-haired jonin then turned to look at the hunter-nin.

"That mask, you're a Hidden Mist hunter-nin, aren't you?" Kakashi said, stating it more than asking. There was a pause.

"Impressive, you are correct." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, I'm a member of Hidden Mist's hunter-nin team. My job is to hunt down ones such as him." Haku said, referring to Zabuza in fake disgust. Haku leaned over, Zabuza was heaved over-shoulder.

"Your battle is over. I must now dispose of the body. Farewell." Naruto moved to action, making a move to go forward in an attack, but, it was too late. Haku had gone. _Damn it! He was supposed to have disposed of the body here! _He mentally screamed. Suddenly there was a 'thump' noise and he looked over to see Kakashi sitting on the ground unceremoniously, obviously exhausted.

"Ah, sorry. It appears I may be suffering from some slight Chakra Exhaustion." Kakashi sheepishly explained, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Naruto rolled his eyes and walked over, extending a hand to help.

"You are such an idiot..." He mumbled glaring at Kakashi playfully as the older nin took his hand and pulled himself up. Kakashi threw an arm over the much younger Naruto's shoulder, allowing himself to be supported.

"Now then, let's get Tazuna home!" Kakashi cheerfully exclaimed, ignoring the strange looks thrown in their direction.

"Y-yea..." Tazuna lamely said, still a little shocked at all that had happened in such a short span of time.

* * *

Ah crap, another one of my lame fights!

Sorry about not posting Saturday guys. Essay recently and honestly, I just had no inspiration to type. Next chapter a guarantee of 5000+ words.

Anyway, as always, Review and all that junk.


	10. Chapter 10

Next Chapter! I could not very well fill the 5,000 word promises well, but, as they say, quantity is not the same as quality. I find that a lot of authors appear to be forgetting that nowadays.

I think all of you will get a bit of enjoyment out of this Chapter.

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

Reviews:

**Ren chan Anime**: I completely agree. I just got a little lazy with the chapter and it lowered its quality. That is definitely my fault. As for the usage of 'super' to describe things, I kinda just copied exactly what Tazuna said from the chapter, which I had open. I probably will have some filler before jumping straight to the Chūnin exams. Maybe meeting up with Shikamaru and Choji again. Making friends with Shino could happen too. Lots of things could happen, I just don't know yet.

* * *

Seated at the table inside Tazuna's home were 6 people. Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna himself, and Inari. The other person in the house was Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, who was washing dishes in the kitchen. Everyone was eating in relative silence.

"You're all going to die you know. The only way you could live is if you leave now." Inari said with closed eyes, his fork raised half-way to his mouth.

Naruto stared at the boy for a second.

"So you want to kill Tazuna, who I'm assuming is your grandfather?" He asked in a nonchalant manner, blowing on some steaming rise softly before sliding it off the fork with his mouth.

"W-What?" Everyone seemed startled, Inari more so.

"What are you talking about, Naruto-baka!?" Sakura asked, causing him to raise his other hand with one finger up. Swallowing, he looked to Inari again.

"By telling us to leave now, you are inadvertently killing him. The bridge is his dream and I know for a fact he won't stop working on it. He has already had extremely skilled people sent to kill him and without equally skilled to protect him, he will die." Everyone dipped into silence after that, frightened by the intelligent explanation.

"Gato is invincible! How do a bunch of kids like you hope to beat him!?" Inari finally yelled, slamming his palms down on the table. Naruto raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't appreciate someone who is no more than a toddler calling me a kid."

"There! That arrogant attitude! It comes from living in that safe village. I bet you know nothing of hardship!" Inari yelled again, turning red from the insult.

At this, Kakashi glanced up in worry that Naruto would do something brash.

All eyes were now on Naruto, no food being eaten at the dinner table. He stared at Inari a moment longer before standing up and sliding his seat backwards.

"Naruto, where are you going?" Sakura asked, curious at the odd behavior.

Naruto looked at her and eye-smiled, creepily, just like their sensei.

"I think I could do with getting lost on the road of life right about now." With that, he turned and walked from the room, leaving a slightly smug looking Inari.

"Probably guilty because he knows I'm right." He said to no one in particular. Naruto stopped and turned to look fully at the boy.

Kakashi started to move. _The dumb kid just put the nail in his own coffin! _He cursed under his breath as he had to put a hand on the table to stabilize himself.

Naruto pulled off his vest, letting it slide to the floor and land softly. He pulled the black long-sleeve shirt he wore underneath it off as well and dropped it onto the pile, now turned away from the group. Sakura blushed at his lightly defined back muscles and Kakashi was now looking away in guilt, closing his one visible eye. Sasuke was just staring in interest at what the Dobe was doing.

When he turned to them, everyone's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Two jagged scars, one from the top-left of his chest and down to the bottom-right of his ribcage, it had become less defined over the years but was still easily visible. The second scar ran down his shoulder and was significantly smaller but was still around 7 inches in length. It was in a crescent shape. No one said anything and when Tsunami came out of the kitchen to investigate the sound, she first blushed, and then dropped the plate she was holding, shattering it all over the floor.

"At the age of five..." He paused, wondering if he should even tell them this story. "My fifth birthday, to be exact. I was tortured to lengths that I should have been dead..." Another pause. "By Shinobi of my own village." He finished, staring at everyone in the room calmly. He had come to terms with this particular event in his life years ago.

Tsunami had a hand over her mouth and was openly sobbing while Kakashi still could not look at the biggest mistake of his life. Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna were gaping while Inari, in a state of shock, just stared.

Grabbing his clothes, he threw them over his shoulder and headed to the door, closing it quietly behind him as he jumped up to the roof and lay down. Kakashi was staring downwards in guilt but still wanted to go after him.

"I'll..." He took a deep breath to collect himself. "I'll go after him." With that, Kakashi also left the house, leaving behind a completely frozen room. Naruto now had just his black shirt on and was staring up at the moon with a far away look. He sat with his legs splayed out in front of him and he was leaning back on his palms, hands behind his back.

Kakashi stumbled and all but collapsed in a sitting position next to him. Naruto chuckled and looked at Kakashi closely.

"Ugh! Damn it Kakashi-nii, I told you to stop feeling so guilty over it! It's not your fault, alright!?" He shouted in irritation, as the jonin turned to actually look at him, guilt flashing across his face once more as he grimaced. He couldn't get the image from his head, finding Minato-sensei's son bleeding out and strapped to a chair with a gag in his mouth was almost a more traumatizing experience than Obito's death. Almost. It probably would have been if Naruto hadn't lived.

With a sigh, Naruto's voice came in nearly a whisper.

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yup, and I can't seem to be able to get rid of you!" Kakashi gave a grin, which Naruto returned. How Naruto could actually know what expressions he was making under his mask, he would never know.

They sat in companionable silence for another few minutes.

"You know Zabuza is still alive, right?" Naruto finally asked, drawing another sigh from Kakashi.

"Yea."

"When do you plan on telling the dream-team? Hell, if we're lucky, me showing them that bit of information will crack them out of their fantasy world." He said, irritation prickling it's way into his voice.

"Now, now, it's not good to get so worked up over the two you're supposed to be working with. Even if they're annoying beyond belief." They shared a laugh at that, having to take another few minutes to regain their breath.

"Well, I plan on telling them a bit later tonight, some chakra exercises tomorrow. Zabuza will probably be out for a week, same for me if you hadn't saved me when you did. Thanks for that. I'll probably be fully recovered in around 4 days now, tops." Naruto nodded, continuing to stare wistfully at the moon.

"We should get back to the others.." Kakashi said, also staring at the moon.

"Yea." Naruto agreed softly, standing up and dusting off the back of his shorts.

With Kakashi doing the same, they shared a look before returning to the other members of Team 7.

* * *

Day After -

Sasuke and Sakura were watching with surprised expressions as Kakashi walked straight up the side of a tree, then their mouths fell open as he walked across the underside of a branch. Two Kunai were suddenly sticking up from the ground in front of the two.

"Well, good luck, oh, and use those Kunai to mark how high you get on the tree." Kakashi said, walking around the tree branch to be standing upright on it. Leaning back on the tree he pulled out his book and began reading, a perverted giggle coming from his mouth as the two made their first attempt at getting up the tree.

With Naruto -

_Damn it! How could I forget to pick up my Hitai-ate! Stupid! _Naruto yelled at himself in his head, dusting off the treasured object carefully with his sleeve, a frown stuck on his face. His eyes shot up and looked at what appeared to be a young girl, around his age, picking herbs on the side of the road over to the right. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto stood up and walked over.

"Ah, Hello there, miss." He called and noticed when the girl jumped slightly, turning to look back at him quickly. She seemed to relax slightly, presumable she had assumed he didn't know who she was.

"Hello." She responded softly, watching him carefully.

"Is that a Hitai-ate you have there? Are you a Shinobi?" She asked curiously.

"Ah, you noticed. Well, yes, I am in fact." He stated, crossing his arms and tilting his head.

"Are you a strong Shinobi?" She continued, returning the action of tilting the head.

"Well, not really." He made himself sound dejected, drooping slightly.

"Do you have someone to protect?" She asked, picking another medicinal herb that he couldn't recognize.

He paused for a moment to consider the question. It seemed honest, so he should answer honestly.

"Only a few people."

"It is not how many people you have to protect, it is that you want to protect them that matters. You are already a very strong person..." She trailed off, a sad glint came into her eyes.

"Oh, I'm Naruto." He said after realizing they hadn't introduced themselves.

"Haku." She said, picking up her basket full of herbs, and turning away. "I hope we can meet again sometime, Naruto."

"Wait, Haku, I have a question for you." She stopped, not bothering to turn to look at him.

"Do you have someone to protect?" He hesitantly asked.

"Yes."

"I am glad to hear that. You must be very strong as well then. Well, give my regards to Zabuza!"

Haku froze for a second, dropped her basket and whipped around. Naruto was already gone.

* * *

Later -

Team 7, Tazuna, and his family were seated at the table quietly. Naruto poked at his food tiredly. Taking a breath he glanced to Kakashi.

"I talked with that hunter-nin today. Rather, Zabuza's partner." He said, looking back down at his food. All eyes were instantly on him.

"What?!" Kakashi asked in a harsh voice. "And you didn't tell me!?" He yelled this time, causing Naruto to flinch.

"I didn't think it was that important!"" He yelled back. Kakashi sighed.

"Whatever, what did he say?"

"She. A girl. She seems to have some pretty good morals, just with the wrong person." He reported monotonously.

"Hmm? Good morals? How so?" Kakashi asked, raising his one visible brow.

"Protect your precious people kinda thing. It will make you strong, according to her. I feel inclined to agree" He said, his voice returning to it's usual laziness, there was tension in the air for a few minutes.

"Dobe. Just how strong are you?" Came Sasuke's voice.

"Me? I'm not strong at all." He responded. "You?"

"I'm a Uchiha. Of course I'm strong!" Sasuke growled back at him.

"Bullshit." He deadpanned. "Can you beat Kakashi-nii?" No one noticed the added suffix, thankfully to engrossed in his actual question. Sasuke opened his mouth but no words came out.

"No..." He whispered, a tone of realization came into his voice, he stared into his food.

"Being clan born doesn't make you automatically strong, just as Kakashi having the Sharingan doesn't make him automatically strong." He said sagely, watching Sasuke's reaction with interest.

"Shut up Naruto-baka! Sasuke is way stronger than you!" Came Sakura's fangirl screeching. Naruto turned to her.

"I never said he was. I simply said he wasn't strong. Not that somebody was stronger than him, or that he was stronger than anybody else. He is simply not strong, probably not strong enough to kill whoever he may be after. That's not to say he can't become strong." He jerked a thumb at Sasuke. "You definitely have great potential, and first you need to overcome that superiority complex in order to actually become strong." He finished, causing Kakashi to deadpan at him.

"When did you become the sensei?" He asked, causing Naruto to face fault.

The group ate the meal in a silence, Sasuke contemplating the words, Sakura seething with anger towards Naruto, Kakashi and Naruto reading their books while sitting next to eachother.

"How did you get the Sharingan, Kakashi-sensei? Did you steal it?" Asked Sakura, causing Kakashi to look up from his book at her, a frown was hidden by his mask.

"Wouldn't that be ironic, stealing an eye that allows you to steal techniques!" Naruto interrupted, causing Sasuke to glare at him for a second.

"No, Sakura, It was given to me by a friend...before he died." Kakashi said, looking back down at his book and giggling perversely. Sakura stared with disgust across the table at both Naruto and Kakashi.

"God, you would think that you two were brothers." She said, pointing her finger at them for emphasis. Both froze and looked up from their books at her, eyes half lidded with laziness.

"Huh, you say something?" They asked in unison, causing Sakura's jaw to hit the floor comically. Sasuke was also staring with wide eyes. Tazuna broke into laughter which drew Tsunami and Inari from the kitchen.

"Oh, they're still here?" Inari asked a bit apprehensively, staring at Naruto the whole time. Naruto turned to look at him with a foxy grin.

"Oh, still haven't worked that stick out of your ass? Figures. Ever wonder if you maybe had some Uchiha blood in you?" He asked, Sasuke glaring once again at him while Tazuna broke into another fit of giggles. Kakashi even had a growing smirk on his face.

"Naruto-kun!" Tsunami exclaimed, covering Inari's ears protectively. "Don't swear in front of children!" She chided, forgetting for a moment that Naruto himself was a child.

He threw his hands up in a defensive manner, at both the glaring Tsunami and Uchiha.

"No harm done!" He said, preparing to get up and run if he had to.

Tsunami sighed in defeat and went back to the kitchen with Inari, shaking her head along the way. Sasuke continued to glare, pushing Naruto's previous words to the back of his head to sort out later.

"Whatever, I'll be upstairs, G'night!" He said, running upstairs and down the hall way leading to the left. Sliding open the door to both his and Kakashi's room. He flopped into the bed tiredly. He had dealt with a lot today, including an upping of his own training. It was not fun to say the least but it helped.

His eyes slowly closed and soon he had fallen asleep, his body aching from intense training he had put it through.

* * *

One Day Before Zabuza's Recovery -

Naruto panted heavily as sweat poured out of him in buckets. He had just finished sparring with upwards of a hundred shadow clones, and came out with just some slices in his clothes. At the moment, he was feeling quite proud of himself. Staggering, he began to make his way back to Tazuna's house as the afternoon turned to dusk.

Stumbling into the house and walking past the stares of his teammates, Naruto struggled up the stairs and into his room. Once again flopping down on the bed, sleep overtook him within seconds. This time however, he went to talk with an old friend. If he could be called that.

**"Kit, I've been expecting you." **Murmured the just-woken Kyuubi.

"Yea. I've been having a bad feeling about this fight tomorrow. You up for letting me borrow some Chakra?" He asked. "Well, only if my feelings are confirmed." He added in hastily, a sheepish grin coming across his face.

**"You know you can use my Chakra if it's needed to keep you alive, kit. You don't have to ask every time you know."** The demon scoffed, its irritation shown by the twitching of the enormous tails waving out behind it.

"I just feel bad about taking it without asking is all. You've been pretty good to me in the past, better than most of the villagers at least." He whispered the last part darkly, a concerned look flashed over the Kyuubi's face.

"Anyway. Got any strategy tips for me to take tomorrow?" He asked hopefully, a pleading look coming across his face.

**"Hmmm. Well. I would watch this house for anyone coming to take a hostage for one. Aaand. Oh! Don't use my powers too much if possible. Not being able to train with them is a great detriment and your body won't be used to it. You will suffer some serious side effects afterwards."**

"Okay! Great, thanks, fur ball." He said, a gigantic grin ever present on his face. The Kyuubi now had a growing tick mark on it's forehead.

**"I gave you my name, why don't you use it!?"** He growled out through gritted teeth. Naruto let out a laugh, happy and carefree.

"Cause it pisses you off when I don't!" He exclaimed cheerfully, eye smiling with a slightly tilted head.

**"Yeah, whatever. Get some sleep, kit. The body not only needs physical, but mental rest as well." **

"You got it...fur ball." A massive roar was heard throughout Naruto's mindscape as he faded into a true unconsciousness, laughing the whole time.

* * *

Next day - Day of Zabuza's Recovery

Naruto's eyes snapped awake at the early hour of 6 a.m. Sitting up, he stretched and was awarded with the sound of his back popping loudly. Glancing over to where Kakashi's bed was he noticed the man missing and assumed him to be getting some early training in. Heaving a sigh, he threw his legs over the bed and stood.

Soon he was downstairs, fully dressed and ready for combat. Sitting at the table, he leaned back in the chair much like he used to in the Academy and plopped his feet up on the table. He would have to make sure Tsunami didn't see him doing this, or he would probably be dead.

Around an hour and a half later, both Sasuke and Sakura came down the stairs, their movements were sloppy and tired, almost causing him to laugh. An hour after that, the door flew open to show Kakashi walking in, drawing looks from everyone seated at the table. Kakashi followed and motioned for them to follow. When he saw Naruto not following them he turned to the boy.

"Not coming with?" Kakashi asked.

"Chickening out, dobe?" Sasuke cut in, a condescending smirk on his face.

"Staying here for a little while. Want to see if Gato sent some thugs for hostages or anything." Sasuke frowned, while Kakashi gave an approving nod to him, and soon enough, they were gone.

Sure enough, not too long after the others had left, he sensed two people moving towards the house. They stopped at the front door and when that same door came flying into the dining room, he assumed the worst. He stayed silent and watched with a growing anger as they took Tsunami who used her own life as a bargaining chip to save Inari, and pride as Inari held them up. Having seen enough, he did the Kawarimi to replace with Inari and used simple speed to dodge the blades, pushing chakra into his feet and jumping between the two blades as they came towards him horizontally. Needless to say, the two wannabe swordsman were shocked, and their faces were held in that state of shock as he plunged two Kunai into each of their bellies. Killing blows.

Tsunami had Inari in a hug as he left, both sobbing into eachother for comfort. He made his way as fast as possible to the bridge.

When he arrived he could barely see anything through the mist, and with the Chakra permeating the air it was near impossible to sense where anyone was. Moving blindly, he made his way in, using his ears to track the sound of metal meeting metal and needle meeting flesh. Coming across a dome of ice was a surprise and seeing Sasuke inside, struggling to stay up and looking like a pin-cushion was enough to send his anger to unimaginable heights. Forcing himself to calm, he walked into the dome and over to the other boy, throwing a volley of Shuriken out to meet the Senbon needles heading towards Sasuke.

"Never knew you were one to enjoy acupuncture, Uchiha." He said with a grin on his face as he approached Sasuke. The glare that was sent at him was a lot less intimidating when the boy had 10 plus needles sticking out of various places in his body.

Looking around and at all the reflections of Haku in the mirror he couldn't help but let out a low, respectful whistle.

"Impressive. A Kekkei Genkai I presume?" He asked, the Senbon volleys stopping for a short time. Getting no answer, he let the Uchiha pluck the needles carefully from his body and continued with another question.

"Why are you doing this Haku?" He asked softly, half understanding already.

"I am Zabuza-sama's tool to be used. He wants me to kill that Uchiha there." Came the girl's monotone voice. He raised an eyebrow and stared directly at one of the mirrors, not even knowing if he was looking at the real thing.

"Bullshit. Was all that crap about protecting your precious people a lie then? If Zabuza told you to kill him, or do something that would harm him in some way, would you do it?" He asked disbelievingly. No answer came, and he had to dodge the Senbon needles thrown at him with instinct alone. They were damn fast.

"You know its true. Besides, Gato isn't going to pay you anyways. If my assumptions are right, he should be here to kill both you and Zabuza in around 15 or 20 minutes now. 50 plus thugs and all that." He called out again, glancing over to make sure Sasuke was alright. The boy seemed to be following the Senbon and Naruto fairly well. A realization hit Naruto. _He's unlocking his Sharingan. _His eyes widened for a second and he continued watching Sasuke. A smile crept it's way across his face. It took him a second to realize the Senbon had stopped coming.

"I-is that true...maybe if I can convince Zabuza-sama..." Haku sounded hopeful, and trailed off near the end. Too bad it came back hard and cold. Back to it's monotone. "No. I have my orders and I will follow them."

"Damn." Naruto cursed under his breath, and his eyes followed movement behind Sasuke. He sprung forward in an instant and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He stared the other boy in the eye for a fraction of a second and pushed hard out to the left of the approaching needles, all aimed at vitals, or close to vitals.

"Live."

His vision became clouded as the Senbon pierced his skin. He found himself staring up at the sky with his mouth open his eyes felt like they were vibrating and he had a strange feeling in the front of his brain.

_Ah, I think I'm dying... _He thought, remembering the feeling very well now.

_Sorry, Kurama. I think I fucked it up for us..._

_Kakashi-nii... I'll miss you so much._

_Teuchi, Ayame...Keep the shop standing._

_Jiji...Thanks for everything._

_Iruka-sensei...I couldn't live up to your expectations._

_Will I even remember you all?_

* * *

Sorry again about going back on a guarantee but this just came to me while writing and it seemed too damn good to pass up. I was only a 1,000 words off!

Anyway, Review and all that junk.


	11. Chapter 11

Here's the next one.

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Reviews:

**Ren chan Anime**: I can only hope to fulfill my reader's expectations. Yes, Haku is a girl. As much as I wanted to stay true to the Naruto canon with characters I just couldn't read through the chapters with Haku in it and not thinking 'girl', so yea. Time to see what happened to Naruto!

* * *

_Clangs of metal hitting metal. A liquid splashing across the ground. The sound of flesh being sliced. _

It all sounded so distant. His ears felt like they were filled with cotton and his brain felt like it was being pulled on from the top of his head.

The sounds, voices, everything sounded so distant but like it was a battle happening right next to him at the same time. He could hear every little sound no matter how far away it sounded. The wind blowing across the stone bridge and to the trees on the shore.

Why couldn't he remember anything?

**Kit. **A voice boomed all around him. Why did it sound so familiar?

**Stand up. Fight. Survive. **Naruto did as told and willed his arms and legs to move. They couldn't. He suddenly became aware of the feeling of multiple points sticking into a variety of his vital points. One had pierced right through his heart. Was it still beating? What a strange feeling to have brain activity without a beating heart.

Putting the matter to the side for later contemplation he tried to move once again.

**Do you want some help? Just give me control and your wishes will be fulfilled.**

He declined the offer of help, and somehow he knew that the being understood. Who was he?

A flood of what he sensed was Chakra began to fill his body, rapidly filling him and beginning to heal his wounds. He felt the powerful Chakra force the Senbon from his body at a rapid pace, shooting the weapons into the air at speeds that would be nearly impossible to follow.

He worried for a moment. Was the being taking control without his acceptance? No, no that couldn't be the case. He could still think. He could still rationalize. He could still feel. And now he could move. He took note of the raven-haired body in the middle of the bridge, also with Senbon needles sticking out in multiple directions but none piercing any vitals. He also took note of the smell of something burning in the air. A bit of skin but mostly clothing.

A flood of memories filled his head and instantly began to answer the multiple questions he had. A foxy grin inched across his face and in a whisper, he spoke out into what seemed like nothing but mist.

"Thanks, Kurama."

* * *

Kakashi was frightened. Not for himself, but for one of his students, one of his friends, one of his family. Naruto had seemed to join them a little while ago and he had been relieved, soon after, however, his Chakra levels had disappeared and the girl that he had sent Sasuke to fight had showed up with a slightly burnt left arm and a missing mask. Now he was dodging both sword strikes and Senbon needles with flexibility that no human being should have had. He winced as he dodged once more. That had torn a muscle.

He had one hundred feelings pass through him as the tainted Chakra of the Kyuubi washed over him. He felt relief that Naruto was alive. He felt worry that the Kyuubi had taken over. He also felt excitement for some strange reason. Why would he be excited about the Kyuubi taking over the person he considered a brother? Simple. He had a feeling that the Kyuubi hadn't taken over at all, and that the odds of his fight were about to skyrocket in his favor.

Despite the situation he was, and the situation he could very well be in if the Kyuubi had broken loose, a grin broke out across his hidden face.

* * *

Naruto worked his way through the mist towards Kakashi's Chakra. He appeared just in time to intercept 3 Senbon aimed at the tendons in the back of Kakashi's legs.

Haku's face turned from shock into relief, which caused Naruto to raise a brow. The girl didn't like to kill, huh? He pressed his back to Kakashi's and took notice of the claws on the end of his fingers.

"Naruto...is that still you or am I about to be stabbed in the back." Kakashi asked, not pulling his eyes away from Zabuza.

"Well, I think it's still me..." Naruto answered, narrowing his eyes dangerously at Haku. She was trying to hurt one of his precious people. Sasuke could be dead for all he cared.

"Haku! When you came over here to fight me I had thought that meant you killed the two idiots you were fighting!" Zabuza yelled, anger and a slight hint of worry lacing his voice.

"I-I did Zabuza-sama. At least this one. He pushed the other one out of the way and inadvertently made all the Senbon pierce vitals. There was a Senbon in his heart. I was s-sure I k-killed him!" She stuttered out.

"Ne, Zabuza, my offer still stands you know. Besides, the troll who doesn't like bridges should be hear any minute." Naruto called, saying the last part more to himself.

"Hell no, gaki. I still have a job to compl-" A screech that made everyone bring their hands up to cover their ears interrupted him.

"Fuck. Sounds like Sakura found Mr. Broods." Naruto growled out through gritted teeth.

"Besides, why would I want to come to a village with _that_ in it." Zabuza finished.

Naruto nodded his head solemnly in agreement.

"Yea...You know, that not a bad idea! Kakashi-nii, just to let you know, if Haruno doesn't straighten up her act soon you and me are becoming missing-nins." He said excitedly, drawing raised eyebrows from both Zabuza and Haku.

"Ah...well there would be consequences for th-" Kakashi said with an eyesmile, forcing himself not to agree.

"Fuck whatever consequences there are. Using fur ball's Chakra gives me heightened senses and that nearly blew my eardrums!" Kakashi sighed but didn't say anything else. Zabuza however was now sweating bullets.

"Ah...Gaki...you wouldn't happen to be a Jinchuriki, would you?" Naruto turned his back to Haku and gave a foxy grin to Zabuza, showing his elongated fangs and the defined whisker-like scars across his cheeks. The bubbly Chakra cloak rippled across his body but no tails formed.

"Can you guess for which one, Zabuza?" Naruto taunted, knowing that he had won this battle. Haku on the other hand was confused. What was a Jinchuriki?

Zabuza went over this in his head. Obviously he figured this question out very quickly and nearly passed out. He may be called the Demon of the Mist but he was no literal demon such as the Kyuubi.

"Useless! Some demon you are Zabuza!" A voice carried through the clearing mist. At the end of the bridge stood 50 thugs, bandits, pirates. An assortment of hired people, presumably to kill them.

"Damn it, Gaki...we will discuss this after dealing with him." Zabuza muttered and turned to the large group.

"No. You will sit here and watch while **I deal with Gato." **Naruto's voice grew more sinister and a sickly grin spread across his face. Not a happy grin. Not an excited grin. It was a grin of pure madness.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked worriedly.

**"Yes, Kakashi-nii?" **Naruto asked innocently, his feet itching with the will to move.

"Are you alright?"

**"No...No, I'm not **Kakashi-nii." His voice changed back to it's normal tone, but he sounded exhausted. "Using fur ball's Chakra makes me more bloodthirsty and feeds off insanity, which we both know I struggle with." His hand snapped up to grip his head as his eyes fluctuated between blue and red.

"You have to **knock Sakura** and Tazuna **out. No one should see what I'm **about to **do." **Memories surfaced of what Tazuna had told them about what happened to Inari's surrogate father and the grin etched it's way across his face once more. Kakashi could only do as told and knock Sakura and Tazuna out, moving both of them and Sasuke off to the side. Zabuza watched while Haku turned away and closed her eyes.

Naruto walked slowly towards the group with his hands in his pockets.

"A boy? They sent a child to try to stop us?" One person called out and began to laugh. Soon the whole group was roaring with laughter and ignorance. Gato cast a wary glance over to Haku and pointed at the boy.

"Just kill him now!" He screeched and retreated to the back of the group of thugs.

At the command the laughter died down into muffled snickers and a few thugs rushed towards Naruto. He ducked under one sword swing and grabbed the persons arm, the Demon Chakra burned the man skin, causing him to scream. He planted a foot on the man's thigh and with a hard pull managed to free the mans are from his shoulder. He wasn't done there as the skin began to tear and the man's screams died down as he fainted from the pain of his arm being torn off.

Blood sprayed across Naruto's chest as he threw the arm to the side and turned to the three other men who rushed him. No snickers were heard anymore and a tension filled the air as everyone paled. Naruto sent Chakra to the bottom of his foot and released it in a burst. To the thugs it was as if he disappeared from sight. He appeared behind one of the thugs and slashed at the back of his leg with his claws. Blood sprayed as he repeated the process multiple times. After 10 minutes of people wildly swinging their weapons into the empty air and falling to the ground in a pool of their own blood their was 26 bodies on the ground. 25 people remained standing, including Gato.

The thugs had actually gotten a bit smarter and were in a tight circle, protecting anyone from getting behind them. With that sickly grin still on his face he appeared in front of the circle, blood covering him from the neck down. Everyone tensed as he put his hands into his pockets once again, and began walking towards them. He whistled a tune as one of the thugs broke formation to rush at him. He jumped over the blade swung at his legs and shifted his weight in mid air to dodge the knife sliced at his neck. Now parallel to the ground he pulled his left hand from his pocket and swung his leg up to kick the man viciously right where the jaw hinged to the skull.

The man's neck cracked with his jaw as his head tilted to the side and he crumpled down into a heap. Seeing that they stood little to no chance the thugs all began to make a run for the ends of the bridge close to them. With all of the thugs jumping off the bridge Gato tried to use the confusion to escape as well. He ran for the incomplete end of the bridge panting heavily. He was stopped by a hand on his neck and his face came to meet the stone of the bridge, breaking his round sunglasses and nose.

Naruto planted his knee against the mans spine and grabbed both his arms by the crook of the elbow. He began to pull and forced his knee into Gato's spine even more. The man let out a scream of pain and anguish, only making Naruto laugh. He let Gato's arms down and leaned down right next to the man's ear.

**"Let's see how Inari's father felt before you killed him, shall we?" **He whispered and pulled hard, making Gato's elbows touch behind his back with a sickening crack. He frowned.

**"I was hoping to pull them off." **The red Chakra began to recede back into him and his eyes changed back to their bright blue, which were now dull as he looked over his handy work. Gato now lay on the ground, dead, along with 25 of the men he hired.

The only thing Naruto could tell himself was that they were horrible people.

He sensed Kakashi approaching and a smile couldn't help but come across his face as the white haired man put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Kakashi-nii." He said softly.

"Let's go get you washed up, ne?" Kakashi's voice held a cheery tone as he led Naruto towards the edge of the bridge, jumping down and using Chakra to stand atop it. Naruto peeled off the bloodied shirt and he kneeled down and cupped his hands together. He splashed water on his face and began to scrub his clothing harshly. Neither said anything.

* * *

Little bit of a shorter chapter, ne? Hope you guys/gals don't hold that against me. I've been starting to think about having a relationship in my story, and I am going to look to you guys for opinions on this.

Relationship or not, leave a review or pm me or something to let me know your opinion. The person in the relationship will be discussed at a later time.

Anyways, review and all that junk.


	12. Chapter 12

I would like to start off saying that I apologize for my lack of upholding my responsibility as a writer. Things have just been a bit hard over summer and every time I would sit down in front of the computer to type I would suddenly lose interest.

Just two weeks ago I was out of town and my dog of 11 years had to be put down. Ever since I have been thinking numerous things, and have felt both guilty and regretful. Not being able to be there put a strain on me and I have been more than a little distraught. I've been wondering whether or not he felt betrayed that I wasn't there. My very last words to him were 'Cya later Cody' before I left for the month.

But, after reading a ton of other amazing fan fictions my inspiration has been reignited, and I intent to come back fighting.

Here it is. Chapter 12.

* * *

The most awkward dinner ever was taking place right inside of Tazuna's house. After the battle everyone had come here for a feast, including Haku and Zabuza. When Tazuna, Sakura, and Sasuke woke up to Kakashi and Naruto playing a game of Spades with their recent enemies that were quite shocked.

Kakashi ended up winning with Naruto in second, Haku in third, and Zabuza last. Zabuza was ignored as he accused the rest of them to cheating so he pouted until dinner, refusing to play another game. They all deadpanned at the sight of a grown man **and **A ranked missing-nin pouting over losing a card game.

As dinner rolled around they all took their seats at the table. Zabuza and Haku on one side, Naruto and Kakashi on another, Of course Sakura just _had _to sit next to her 'Sasuke-kun' despite his protests, and lastly Inari and Tazuna. Tsunami was working in the kitchen for a lot of the time so she didn't take a seat, although Naruto disagreed, asking when she would eat.

"After you are all done eating, of course!" She happily chirped, returning to the kitchen before he could press the issue. When the food came to the table they got another surprise from a certain missing nin.

"Ugh, VEGETABLES!?" Zabuza groaned cradling his head in his hands sadly.

"You don't like vegetables?" Naruto asked, cracking up a little.

"No, I don't, as a matter of fact." Zabuza replied, poking at said vegetables disgustedly.

Naruto just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"HAHAHAHAH! WHO THE FUCK DOESN'T LIKE VEGETABLES!? HAHAHAAHA!" He pounded his fist on the table while holding his gut as he laughed.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU LITTLE GAKI I'LL KILL YOU!" Zabuza shouted standing up angrily.

Tsunami's shadowed form appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, angry red eyes and the flames of hell flickering behind her. If Naruto didn't know any better he would have thought the women had used a genjutsu.

"Zabuza-san! You do not threaten to kill people at the dinner table, and if you don't like your vegetables so much then I guess you don't want them." Tsunami walked over and took his dinner away, leaving him sputtering out excuses. Naruto was about to laugh some more until the mother turned her glare upon him.

"And you, Naruto-kun, what did I tell you about swearing in front of Inari!?" She took his dinner as well, leaving him with a lost puppy like gaze.

"Foooood... where'd you go?" He whined childishly putting his head in his hands and crying dramatically.

"Since you two don't know how to behave at the table you will not get dinner and will have to go outside." Tsunami continued as she came back.

"Bu-" Naruto started.

"Outside." Tsunami said again. Naruto and Zabuza excused themselves and walked out the front door, grumbling angrily the whole way. Neither said a thing to Tsunami, however, because there is nothing as scary as an angry mother.

Everyone broke out into a round of laughter at the two's expense.

"Mom?" Inari spoke up, silencing everyone.

"Yes dear?"

"Why'd you kick Naruto-nii and Zabuza-san out for using the words 'fuck' and 'hell'?" Inari asked innocently, staring curiously at his mother.

Gritting her teeth, Tsunami marched to the door.

"AND DON'T EXPECT TO FIND A WARM BED IN THIS HOUSE TONIGHT EITHER!" She yelled at the two before slamming the door and turning back to Inari.

"Just know that you should never use that kind of language young man, otherwise you'll end up like those two." Inari paled at the words and nodded furiously, returning to his meal.

* * *

Outside on the porch -

Zabuza and Naruto sat a good five feet apart from each other on the porch, sending heated glares at each other every few minutes.

"I blame you, gaki."

"This is all your fault, no-brow." A tick mark appeared on both their foreheads.

A sigh came from Naruto's lips and the tension in the air dissipated.

"So, Zabuza. We're gonna be leaving in around 2 or 3 days. What's the plan, you gonna come with us?" Naruto asked, staring up at the stars in wonder.

"To Konoha? You were serious about that?" At Naruto's light nod Zabuza let a sigh of his own out.

"I dunno gaki, I'll talk it over with Haku I suppose."

"How did a brute like you get a sweet girl like that to follow you anyway, Zabuza?" Naruto asked, turning to look at the older nin.

Returning his gaze Zabuza sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Have you heard of the Land of Water?" Zabuza questioned, and when Naruto shook his head he turned to look at the moon, a distant look in his eye.

"A place ravaged by war, and since there was numerous Shinobi with Kekkei Genkai in their most recent, those with the special abilities came to be feared and hated in the thoughts that they would only bring more war. That little girl gets hers from her mother and it was kept from the husband. Somehow the man found out and established a mob, killing his wife and trying to do the same to Haku. Haku killed her father before he killed her, something that I think haunts her to this very day. She was living on the streets for a long while after that and when I found her she looked malnourished and was eating out of a garbage can. I told her to become my weapon, and I fed and clothed her. I guess she just is really thankful I rescued her when she was young or something.

"Or she looks at you like her new father." Naruto suggested, getting a startled look out of Zabuza.

"You really think so?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, sure. She would probably take one of Kakashi's Chidori for you!" Naruto reassured and bright smile on his face before it turned somber again.

"But I assume you haven't told her yet, have you?"

"Told her what?" Zabuza asked.

"That she's the best daughter you could have asked for of course!" Naruto said cheekily, his smile returning full force.

Zabuza looked shocked, and before he could say anything a loud grumbling from both their stomachs interrupted.

"Now lets go find some food ne?" Naruto asked, standing up and brushing himself off and starting to walk in the direction of the forest.

"Gaki..." Zabuza called, making Naruto stop and look at him.

"Thanks...for...the, you know... talk." Zabuza blushed and looked away with closed eyes a frown marring his face. Naruto broke out laughing and managed in between his breaths.

"Anytime Zabuza."

* * *

The day to return to Konoha -

"Do you have to go Naruto-nii?" Inari asked, a bright smile on his face despite his best friend.

"Of course, Inari. I can't fulfill my dream in this little town!" Naruto exclaimed, a hand planted firmly on Inari's head. "I can only hope you fulfill whatever it is your dream is, Inari. Remember what I told you though?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, 'don't act like you have a stick up your ass like almost all the Uchiha!'" Inari repeated loudly, drawing Tsunami's gaze over, her face darkening.

"Ah, well bye Inari, hope to see you again some day." Naruto said before dashing off, running past a startled Kakashi. "I'm going on ahead Kakashi-nii, catch you later!"

"Wait Naruto!" Kakashi called to no avail as Naruto was already gone, and with a sigh followed after waving goodbye to Tazuna and his family.

With that Sakura and Sasuke followed.

Soon they were all walking together again, Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura.

"Uh, Naruto..." Kakashi called ahead.

"Yea?"

"Weren't Zabuza and Haku supposed to come with us?" He asked, causing Naruto to stop in his tracks.

"Shit."

"Gaki!" A yell was heard, drawing everyone's eyes to the direction they just came from. The sight they were met with was an embarrassed looking Haku barely keeping up with an absolutely furious looking Zabuza who appeared to have just woken up.

As they caught up Zabuza went straight to Naruto with a murderous look in his gaze.

"What happened to waking us up?" Zabuza asked, not in the least bit tired from his long run.

"I...uh...forgot..?" Naruto answered weakly, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Zabuza twitched and for a second Naruto thought he was going to reach for the Kubikiribōchō.

"Fine, lets just go..." Zabuza finally ground out between gritted teeth and started walking ahead of the group, Haku following at a more sedate peace. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Naruto immediately began walking once more, keeping pace with Haku. After a few minutes of shock the rest of the group followed.

"So, Haku, did Zabuza talk to you last night?" Naruto asked hesistantly, glancing at Haku and already knowing the answer when a soft smile settled on the girl's face.

"He did." She responded, a happy tone working it's way into her voice.

"That's great!" Naruto said, happy for his friend.

"So how is it in Konoha, Naruto?" Haku asked, staring curiously at her companion.

"Eh... it's the biggest shit hole on the planet." He said with a bored tone, shocking almost everybody. Oblivious to the heated glares from Sakura he continued on. "...and if it wasn't for a few select people I personally would have left a looong time ago. Not that I could make it that far..."

"If it's so bad there why did you invite us to come with you?!" Zabuza shouted, shooting an angry glance over his shoulder at Naruto.

"Most of my quarrels with Konoha are because of what they have done to me in the past..." Naruto growled.

They continued to walk in silence after that for a long while, until Naruto groaned.

"Ugh! It's so damn hot!" With that he began peeling off his clothing, throwing his vest and shirt over his shoulder as he walked. Haku glanced over before looking away with a slight blush.

"Damn gaki those are some grizzly scars.." Zabuza said, turning Haku's eyes to said scars.

"What, did you think I was lying about what I told you before?" Naruto asked, rolling his eyes.

"I guess I did..." Zabuza mused, leading to another long, awkward silence.

* * *

Gates to Konoha -

As the odd group approached the gate both the guards stood to attention, and Naruto ran ahead of the group.

"Ah! Kotetsu, Izumi!" He called waving a hand.

A loud bout of laughter broke out from Kotetsu as Izumo gained a throbbing tick mark above his eye.

"Wait a sec, why is that so familiar." Izumo wondered out loud, causing his partner to recollect himself.

As they sat in thought for a few minutes the group finally reached them.

"I know!" Izumo said and pointed a finger at Naruto. "You're that masked figure from a few years ago! The ANBU!" He yelled, drawing everyone's gaze to Naruto.

"No, I'm not an ANBU, that other ANBU was calling me one to help me get back into the village to meet with the Hokage, something you two were holding me from doing." He explained quickly, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea.

The two gate guards were flabbergasted, and looked frozen with shock. Shrugging, Naruto walked past, motioning for everyone to follow. Zabuza deadpanned at the lack of security from one of the supposed strongest villages.

* * *

In the Hokage's office -

"So you're telling me you saved the country of Wave by freeing them from the tyrannical rule of Gato, and that Zabuza here turned a new leaf because he was betrayed by said Gato, who hired him to kill Tazuna." The Hokage asked slowly, and at the nod of heads he let out a sigh.

"All this on a simple C - Rank mission?" More heads nodding in confirmation.

"So do tell why you brought Zabuza and his surrogate daughter back here?" He asked, massaging his temples to delay the coming headache from all the paperwork.

"I had suggested that Zabuza come here to Konoha to join our village, offering protection and some easy pay." Naruto spoke, stepping forward to address the Hokage. Sarutobi looked over Naruto carefully, and at the nod of Naruto's head let out another sigh.

"Alright, I trust your judgement Naruto... but I will have to ask both Zabuza and Haku to get a once over from Inoichi to make sure they check out okay, any complaints." Haku and Zabuza shake their heads.

"Good, you will be staying in the apartment right next to Naruto's. He will show you, so just follow him. Dismissed." At the authority in the Hokage's voice everyone left the room.

* * *

And that's it. Expect another chapter soon.

And on the relationship I am only willing to write a relationship including either Temari or Anko. I'm weird like that, so just say whether you would like to see a relationship and if you do with which of said people.

Review and all that junk.


	13. Chapter 13

Doesn't look like there's going to be a relationship, sorry to anyone looking forward to it. Seeing as it's my first story I can accept that.

Don't own anything

* * *

"Damn gaki, where are we, this place is a piece of shit!" Zabuza exclaimed as he took in his new home.

"Yea, yea, it's a piece of shit, I know, but it's home, so deal with it." Naruto explained, walking up the steps to his home, blatantly ignoring the graffiti of 'demon' and 'go die' sprayed across the wall and door.

"I can assume that's due to having your furry little friend?" Zabuza questioned, glancing at the mess before walking to his own apartment.

"Yup!" Naruto exclaimed cheerily, before unlocking the door and walking into his apartment. Only a second later he poked his head back out to give them an eye smile.

"And you may not want to attempt walking right into my apartment by the way." He added ominously, only for the tense atmosphere to be broken by Zabuza.

"Why, do you jerk off in there or something?"

Naruto's eye twitched before he slammed the door shut hurriedly. Haku meanwhile was staring at the ground, her face a light shade of pink.

* * *

The next day -

Naruto was staring intensely at the Shogi board, trying very seriously to not punch Shikamaru in the face, effectively wiping that patented Nara smirk off of his face. Naruto had went from having Shikamaru's king in check to having his own king in check with no way out of it in just 2 turns.

Gritting his teeth he moved his knight in the way of his enemies bishop, only for Shikamaru to counter by moving his rook forward to parallel Naruto's king.

"Ote (check)" Shikamaru drawled out slowly, causing Naruto to hold his head in his hands as he could see the loss already.

"So I guess that's Tsumi (checkmate) , eh Naruto?" Shikamaru asked with a chuckle, standing and leaving to get a drink.

"Don't feel bad Naruto, I still can't believe you can even last this long against him! The only person I've ever seen beat Shikamaru is his father!" Choji said, resting a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"One day..." Naruto growled clenching his fist and staring dramatically off into the distance.

"So do you really have a former missing nin living in the apartment next to yours?" Choji asked with a tone of disbelief in his voice.

"Yup, Zabuza, or otherwise known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist." Naruto assured leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms behind his head.

"Isn't that kinda...dangerous?" Choji asked warily, glancing around as if the man in question was going to jump out any second.

"I guess. I mean I could probably beat him if I had to." Naruto said nonchalantly, getting a weird look from Shikamaru as he sat down with his drink.

"Beat who?"

"Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, know of him?"

"Vaguely, rumors, and I'm pretty sure I've heard my dad talking about him before. You think you could beat someone like that?"

"Well we're probably about equal in strength if I were to remove my gravity seals, he would kill me if I didn't have a little extra help of my own." Naruto explained carefully, keeping the parts about Kurama being his extra help out of it as to not frighten Choji. He had a feeling Shikamaru already knew about the sealing

"Wow..." Choji muttered in awe, staring at him like he was some kind of omnipotent being.

"Sooooo..." Naruto began awkwardly. "Has your sensei told you guys about the Chuunin exams yet?" Both of them shook their heads.

"Well, I hope to see you guys there."

"You know your getting in?" Shikamaru asked, surprise evident on his face.

"Yea, I have a special kind of relationship with my sensei." Choji's face scrunched up in disgust. "Nothing like that!" Naruto yelled in irritation, slightly disgusted by what Choji was probably thinking.

Shikamaru was laughing the whole time.

"You guys should really start training for the exams though." Naruto interrupted. "If you want my suggestion I would say that you should both work on increasing your Jutsu repertoire. Shikamaru, you should increase your Chakra control and capacity while you, Choji should focus on playing some more Shogi, as to get a better understanding of strategy and the best moves to make instead of just rushing in there as you normally do, no offense."

Both of them kept the advice in mind and would be sure to take it into consideration.

* * *

One week later -

Naruto was breathing heavily as he dispelled the last clone in the Training Ground. A curious expression overcame his face as he noticed the large amount of bugs in the area.

_Aren't those...? _His thoughts were confirmed as the one and only Shino Aburame stepped out of the treeline, his gaze focused in Naruto's direction.

"Evening Shino!" He called waving his hand lazily.

"Good evening to you Uzumaki-san. Might I ask if you're a Taijutsu specialist? That is a very interesting training regime you have." Shino questioned, shifting his glasses further up on his nose.

"No, no. I'm more suited towards Ninjutsu myself. It's one of my best skills, along with Fuuinjutsu." Naruto answered while chuckling.

"I see, you must be incredibly strong if Taijutsu is not your strong point and you're still that good with it." Shino complimented, attracting his bugs back to him with a quick Chakra Flare.

"Some might say so." Naruto shrugged, watching the bugs curiously.

They stood in silence for a few moments.

"Y'know you were never this talkative in class." Naruto accused, crossing his arms.

"...and you never had that much skill in class." Shino retorted.

"Good point..." Naruto eye-smiled. "How is your team doing?"

"Kiba is an idiot." He nodded in sympathy.

"As is Sakura."

"Hinata is too shy for her own good." Another nod.

"That is kinda like Sasuke."

"It amazes me how much potential they have, however."

Naruto grinned.

"Our teams are really alike." He exclaimed before looking Shino seriously right in the glasses. "and how are you doing Shino?"

"I am still less than conversative to most people, and I'm finding it hard to grow both skill and strength-wise."

"You're going to be a great Shinobi Shino, and an even better friend." Naruto said softly before disappearing in a shunshin, leaving a startled Shino behind.

* * *

7 days until Chuunin exam -

Naruto was not amused. The supposed rock had appeared an instant after their D rank, where Sasuke had 'politely' suggested that Sakura used her free time to train and Kakashi had went to supposedly submit his mission report.

"What rock is square?" Naruto asked, looking straight into the eye holes with a bored expression on his face. Suddenly three children popped up from under it. Including the one he had rescued oh so long ago.

"There you are! You're so hard to find, what, do you live in a cave?!" Konohamaru asked with exasperation in his voice. "I never even got the chance to thank you for saving me from sensei."

"How do you even know who I am?" Naruto asked eye twitching slightly.

"Jiji told me!" Konohamaru cheerily exclaimed.

"So... what's with the crap looking masks?" Sure enough sitting on top of the three's heads were plain clay masks with horrible renditions of a fox drawn on them.

"We're trying to be like you!" All three all but shouted as they pulled the masks down to cover their faces.

"Oh they're so cute!" Sakura squealed as she came over, prompting Naruto to stare at her.

"I thought you left?" Alas, he was ignored as the girl was fawning over the 'cute' children.

"Who's this boss, your girlfriend?" Naruto raised a brow at the 'boss' part but didn't question it, and broke down laughing at everything that followed. Sakura looked absolutely murderous and she proceeded to chase after the three, Naruto following soon after.

The sight he arrived to was an older boy with make-up on his face hoisting Konohamaru off the ground by his scarf while Sakura repeatedly tried to apologize for something.

He briefly took note of the blond haired girl next to the boy and deduced that they were either siblings or teammates.

"And what's with this shit little mask? Pretending to be ANBU or something? Ha!" Kankuro laughed, ripping the mask from the boy's head and smashing it into the ground, going so far as to step on the shattered pieces.

This is where Naruto decided to step in, walking calmly straight up to Kankuro and, with a quick lift of his leg, kicking him right in the balls. The effect was immediate, with Kankuro falling to his knees and dropping Konohamaru to the ground. Naruto was contemplating kneeing the older boy in face while he was down but was stopped from these thoughts by the blond haired girl laughing at her brother's misfortune.

"As funny as this is, would you mind explaining to me why you felt the need to kick my younger brother in the sack?" Temari asked with no small amount of amusement.

"Better than a national incident, wouldn't you say? This child here is the Hokage's grandson." Naruto said with an eye smile, drawing shocked looks.

"I never told you that!" Konohamaru yelled pointing a finger at him.

"He likes to talk about you." Naruto said, referring to the Hokage.

The fun little get together was broken up when Sasuke decided to appear.

"Do- Uzumaki, what's going on here?" Sasuke asked, trying to slowly fix his attitude as he now recognized Naruto's words as true and accept him as an equal.

"Ah you know, my daily super hero work of stopping bullies and such, care to join me, Uchiha? You can be my sidekick!" Naruto exclaimed with fake excitement.

Rolling his eyes Sasuke jumped down from his spot on the tree to join in the little party.

"So what are you Suna-nin doing here?" Sasuke spat with an accusatory look.

"Haven't you heard? The Chuunin exams are being hosted in Konoha." Temari explained, at the confused looks from everyone (besides Naruto and Sasuke) she explained more in depth, as she finished it became silent for a few moments as everyone contemplated the new information.

"Don't look now Uchiha, the super villain has arrived!" Naruto yelled as he pointed a finger at Gaara, who was standing upside down on a tree branch.

Sasuke took note that he hadn't noticed Gaara arrive.

"What's your name, Mr. Villain?" Naruto cheerily asked, referring to Gaara.

"Gaara of the Desert... I'm quite interested in yours as well" Gaara stated, appearing down by the group, Kankuro already on his feet and itching to go as he didn't want to anger his little brother.

"Naruto Uzumaki, at your service." Naruto stated proudly and with a bow.

"Naruto Uzumaki... I will kill you." Gaara said assuredly as he began walking away, Temari and Kankuro following, not seeing the cold glare from Sasuke or the shocked looks from everyone else. They did not see the cheeky grin on Naruto's face as he called.

"Give my regards to Shukaku!"

When their heads whipped around in an instant all they saw were the confused looks at the place Naruto used to be and a pile of leaves.

* * *

Naruto's apartment -

Naruto sat in a meditative position on his bed, his eyes closed.

_You're sure that was Shukaku's container, Kurama?_

**_Positive Kit, I could practically feel the insanity permeating from the child._**

_So this is gonna be pretty fun, eh?_

**_Yes, yes it will._**

Naruto's eyes opened and an absolutely bloodthirsty grin came crawling across his face as he left his apartment to train some more. Deep in the seal on his belly the Kyuubi's concerned visage grew even more concerned as he worried for his container's state of mind.

_**Don't become like him Kit, because you're getting closer and closer to**_** it.**

* * *

Elsewhere -

"So you're going to do it? You're going to announce his heritage at the Chuunin Exams?"

"I'm afraid so. Oh, but I'm sure he could handle anything that comes his way with how strong he's gotten now, and he has you there to help him along the way."

"And where will you be?"

"I'm afraid my time is drawing to a close... the years have taken their toll on me and I can feel my end coming..."

"..."

"Take good care of him Kakashi-kun, Minato would be proud."

* * *

And that's a wrap. I think that this was my best quality chapter yet, but that is for the readers to decided, not me.

Review and all that junk.


	14. Chapter 14

School is starting soon... *shivers*

Anyway, if you've watched/read Highschool of the Dead take a moment to go check out my new story 'Prepped for the Dead'.

**ezcap1st: **Yes to all. Just don't expect him to go batshit insane and start killing everything in sight... in this chapter. :p

* * *

Naruto arrived at the meeting spot just 5 minutes before Kakashi did. When Kakashi did get there he quickly handed them some papers.

"Hey guys, I know this is a bit sudden but I nominated you for the Chuunin Exams. Here are your applications. Though this is just a nomination, those of you who do wish to take it show up at Room 301 with those papers signed tomorrow... That's all.." With that Kakashi disappeared from the spot, off to do whatever it is he did with his time.

Sighing, Naruto pulled a pen from his pocket and hastily scribbled his name down before flicking the pen over to Sasuke, who was watching with a raised brow.

"You seem as if you expected this to happen...Uzumaki..." Naruto just stared blankly at him before nodding his head.

"I was..." He answered, his gaze casting over to Sakura. "Do you think you're prepared Sakura?" He questioned, getting a startled look from her. She hesitated a moment before answering.

"N-no...I don't think I am..." Naruto nodded his head at her.

"I'm glad to see you can recognize that you are not prepared enough for these exams... but I still think you should enter..."

"Why?" Sakura asked, puzzlement spreading across her face as she looked at him.

"It will not only be a good experience but it will give you a chance to see where you stand compared to other Kunoichi and what kind of skill set you may want to start practicing." He explained, allowing a small smile when Sakura nodded her head slightly and writing down the information with the pen Sasuke tossed to her.

* * *

Day of Chuunin Exams -

Naruto arrived early to the designated meeting spot for once. When his teammates got their half an hour afterwards they were quite surprised to see him there before them, but said nothing and just enjoyed the fact they could go right into the building.

As they arrived on the second floor they all immediately noticed that the environment was under a Genjutsu, due to the fact that 301 should be on the third floor. The second thing they noticed was the large crowd of genins gathering at the front of the door with two strangely familiar (to Naruto) boys guarding the door, barring entrance to anyone trying to get in.

Naruto saw that Sasuke was going to draw attention to themselves and thought for a moment if he should stop him or not. Deciding on the latter he simply watched as Sasuke pointed out the Genjutsu and was suddenly attacked by one of the two at the door. He went to counter the attack with a kick, but before either attack could hit they were both intercepted as another person slipped in between the duo.

Naruto quickly looked over the newcomer and took note of the green jumpsuit, bowl cut... bushy eyebrows... Naruto couldn't help it as laughter bubbled up from his chest, and soon enough he was on his hands and knees, pounding his fist into the ground with tears coming out of his eyes. His laughter eventually slowed and he looked up to see the mini-green beast watching him. He burst out into laughter again and barely paid any attention to the exchange between Sasuke and Neji, with Neji commenting about Sasuke's 'idiot blond teammate'.

"Ah fuck... Kakashi would have a field day with that..." Naruto idly commented as he and Sasuke were dragged along by Sakura who had a red face and was muttering under her breath about 'how embarrassing he was'.

Soon they were in a large room with no one else, or that's how it seemed.

"Hey, you with the dark eyes, fight me." A voice from above demanded. Turning to look at the speaker they were once again greeted with the sight of the mini-Gai. "My name is Rock Lee. When you want to learn a person's name, you introduce yourself first, right?"

"Uchiha Sasuke..." Sasuke declared, turning to face the other boy.

"I want to fight you to test my techniques against the offspring of the genius ninja clan... Plus..." A light blush came to dust his face as he winked at Sakura awkwardly, causing Naruto to crack up once more. The effect of the wink was immediate on Sakura.

"EEEEWW! THOSE LOWER EYELASHES ARE EWWW!" She screamed, and then with a much quieter voice gave her thoughts on the love-stricken Lee. "Hair style is lame... and those thick eyebrows..."

"Mua. You are an angel." He assured, blowing a kiss at her.

"KYAAA!" She comically dodged an imaginary heart only she could see. Jumping back up she raised her fist at him. "Hey! Don't throw weird things, I barely escaped with my life!"

"You don't have to be that mean..." Lee muttered, a little put off.

"You want to challenge me only because of my name? Frankly that is insulting and I see no need to give you the opportunity." Sasuke interrupted, gaining a surprised look from Naruto.

"Wow.. Sasuke... this is some real progress... I'm so proud!" Naruto eye-smiled, placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, only for Sasuke to shrug his hand off.

"Don't touch me." He muttered, his face a little red out of embarrassment.

Lee, however, was furious that he was denied the fight and stomped off to go join his team, vowing to fight Sasuke in the finals no matter what.

"You wouldn't be able to beat that person, y'know." Naruto informed, staring after Lee's retreating figure. Sasuke whirled around on him angrily.

"Who are you-!" He began, shouting at Naruto.

"If I've been rightfully informed that happens to be training under a jonin known as Maito Guy, The Green Beast of Konoha." Sasuke looked like he was about to finish his rant before Naruto continued. "In a flat out Taijutsu fight the man could probably beat Kakashi... and since that one right there seems to idolize the man he probably takes after him in training and attacks as well. Taijutsu so specialized that it is deadly. He would beat you." Silence reigned after that declaration, and it remained silent as Naruto led the way to the exam room.

At the door they came across a happy looking Kakashi.

"So you all came! That's good because if you didn't, you wouldn't have been able to enter the exams..."

"WHAT! Why didn't you tell us that?!" Sakura yelled.

"Well if I did then Sasuke and Naruto would probably of pressured you into this if you did not feel that you were prepared enough. Sasuke would say one word and you would immediately agree." Kakashi explained, calming the raging girl down.

Naruto, ignoring any further statements, kicked the door in and walked right in, shocking both of his teammates and making Kakashi shake his head in awe at the gall of his little brother.

Naruto took in the glares of all the participants, faintly hearing Sakura voice her wonderment at the sheer amount of people in the room.

Turning, he saw Ino latching onto Sasuke from behind, a blush on her face.

"Sasuke-kun! It's been so long, I've been waiting in excitement."

"Get off of me..." He grumbled halfheartedly.

_If she is here then that means..._ Looking around, Naruto's gaze met with that of Shikamaru's, Choji right next to him.

"Shikamaru! You guys got nominated!" He smiled, his eyes curving up into the trademarked eye-smile as he did so.

"Naruto..." Choji acknowledged with a nod of his head before continuing to munch on his chips.

"Yea... this is all so troublesome.." The other boy grumbled as he looked around the room and at all the glares being sent their way.

"Ah, there you guys all are!" A loud obnoxious voice rose above everyone else. Turning once more, Naruto came face to face with Kiba Inuzuka, alongside Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame. He gave a small nod to Shino, which was returned, and a smile to Hinata, who looked away with a blush on her cheeks. Naruto just ignored Kiba, who engaged in competitive banter with Sasuke.

"Hey, you guys there, you should probably be a bit quieter." A new voice called, bringing everyone to a white haired, glasses wearing teenager walking towards them. "You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? Geez... screaming like school girls..."

"Who do you think you are?" Ino snapped, still holding onto Sasuke.

"Me? I'm Kabuto, but besides that, look behind you." Everyone did so and their attention was brought to all the glares being sent their way.

"Those guys behind you are from Hidden Rain. Their known for having short tempers so quiet down before you cause a scene. Everyone here is nervous about the exams, but you're just clueless rookies so I suppose you aren't to be completely blamed. In fact, you remind of how I used to be."

"Kabuto, right?"

"Yeah."

"So this must be your second time?" Sakura questioned curiously.

"Nope, my seventh. This exam is held twice a year so this is my fourth." Kabuto revealed, all too cheerily.

"Wow, so you must know a lot, huh?"

"That's right."

"I guess I could share some info with you cute rookies... with these nin-info cards!" Kabuto presented the cards dramatically, fanning them out in-front of his face.

"Do you have info on specific individuals?" Sasuke asked, working his way over to the front of the group.

"Not completely perfect information, but it's there." Kabuto answered, seemingly quite proud with himself.

Sasuke proceeded to ask about both Gaara and Lee, and Kabuto presented the information, including some minor skills, team, and missions that they have done.

"A lot of these guys here are outstanding genin from all the Hidden Villages, including Sound, which was created just last year. A lot of them are like these two here, the top elite from the village."

"M-Makes you lose your confidence..." Hinata murmured.

Naruto's hair cast a dark shadow over his face as he lowered his head, drawing the attention of Sasuke and Shikamaru.

_Is he...scared?_ Were the thoughts of both of them.

When Naruto raised his head again he had a murderous grin stretched from cheek to cheek, something that completely frightened the two who were currently watching their blond friend/teammate.

"Oi... all of you glaring at us.. why don't you come at me right now... give me a chance to thin the herd, ne?" He asked in a completely calm voice which went out to echo in the completely quiet room, a light dash of killing intent going along with the threat.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura squeaked, looking fearfully at her blond-haired teammate.

Some of the other genin seemed to rise to the bait and stood, while others sunk back in fear. All the sudden, three figures burst from the crowd, one of them attacking Kabuto with a right cross aimed at his head. Using some quick speed Kabuto evaded the attack, only for his glasses to crack and him to end up on the ground puking.

Everyone was utterly confused as to what happened as the attack was clearly avoided.

Seeing this as an act of aggression, thus giving him the right to retaliate, Naruto made his move, blurring out of anyone's vision and reappearing in front of the one who attacked Kabuto, his fist sunken a few inches into the teen's liver. Shock filled the room as the teen fell to his knees and liquid began dripping out of the bandages covering his mouth.

"Making people puke isn't a nice thing to do... experiencing it yourself is a suitable punishment." Naruto announced, watching with a grin.

Dosu tried to recover, putting a hand shakily on his knees as he tried to push himself up. More puke poured out of his mouth as he hunched over, the bandages restricting the more chunky bits from getting out.

His two teammates glared at the still grinning Naruto as the knelt beside their friend.

Before anything else could happen a large puff of smoke filled the area, dissipating to reveal Ibiki Morino and the rest of the proctors for the exam. Taking a look over the situation the man bellowed in a loud and authoritative voice.

"Any more fighting will result in the immediate disqualification of that person and their team!"

* * *

Next chapter will be the first part of the Chuunin exams, maybe leading into the second.

Review and all that junk.


	15. Chapter 15

Ya know, everyone always presents Anko as some kind of whore. A shame really.

**Guest**: I don't really understand what that means... :/

* * *

Before everyone took their tabs for their seating arrangements Shikamaru managed to slip over next to Naruto.

"Hey man, did you really mean that back there?" He asked, a tinge of concern touching his voice. Naruto remained silent for a few moments after the question.

"Pfft. Hahahahaha!" Naruto had to muffle his laughter behind his hand, and relief flooded into Shikamaru. When Naruto stopped laughing the amusement still shone in his eyes as he looked at his friend to reassure him.

"No, I didn't mean any of it..." Something much darker than there was before flickered behind his eyes, and with a voice just barely above a whisper added on. "If I actually lost control, no one would leave here alive."

Before Shikamaru could question further Naruto walked up and grabbed the tab from Ibiki, nodding to the man as he did so. He was a bit surprised that he was seated next to Hinata, but thought nothing of it. The poor girl blushed furiously as Naruto sat down and sent a small smile her way.

"Hey Hinata, I bet you're going to do great!" She seemed startled as he began talking to her and her blush only darkened. She managed a slight nod after a moment to calm herself.

"I'm sure you'll do good as well, Naruto-kun..." Hinata meekly whispered back.

Ibiki's loud voice brought their attention up to the front.

"Do not turn your tests over. Listen closely to what I'm about to say. There are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain but questions will not be allowed so listen carefully. The first rule is that you guys will all start off with ten points. The test is made up of ten questions and each one is worth a point, however, this test uses a subtraction system. For example, if you answer three questions wrong you will be down to 7 points. The second rule is that this is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold onto from the initial 30."

"Wait a second, I don't understand the initial points system either, but why is it a team test?" Sakura called out while raising her hand, a tone of urgency lacing her voice. Apparently she still thought him to be academically unfit. He stifled a sigh and just ignored her for the time being.

"Shut up, you don't have the right to question me. There is a reason for this, so be quiet and listen." Ibiki explained in a calm voice, much to Naruto's amazement. "The third and most important rule to this test is that anyone who is caught by the testing officers doing any sneaky activities, mainly cheating, will be subtracted two points for every offense. There will be some who lose all their points and be asked to leave."

"We'll have our eyes on you guys." One of the proctors taunted, leaning back in his chair.

"Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As Shinobi trying to achieve the level of Chuunin you should all be proud! The final rule is that those who lose all their initial points during the test or don't answer any questions correctly will be failed along with their two teammates. The test will last one hour. Begin!"

During all of this Naruto's frown was growing deeper and the paper over confirmed his suspicions as none of the questions were at a level they should be able to answer, except for maybe a select few like Shikamaru and him... and maybe Sakura. Turning his paper back over, he sighed and simply did the same thing he did back in his academy days, propped his feet up on the desk and leaned back so that the front of the chair was off the ground with his arms crossed behind his head. He was sure that almost everyone in the class was gaping at him, but simply ignored it and drifted off to dream land, unaware of the glares that Sakura and Sasuke were sending him.

When he awoke he immediately looked at the clock and smirked at how he slept through the first whole exam, and would still pass... in theory.

The way he saw it is that they already had ten points. If it was a mission they already had the information. The only way to lose the points were if you were caught cheating or answered questions incorrectly. There was no way to lose if you didn't answer any questions.

So with a slightly evil grin he began to work on folding the test paper into a plane. The few who were around him looked at him as if he was insane as he folded, and he was sure that the examiner's eyes were on him as well. They were 44 minutes in, only 1 minute until the last question. Just as Ibiki opened his mouth he threw the paper plane, watching excitedly as it zipped through the air and went straight down into the trashcan that was in the corner of the room.

"Score!" He cheered, pumping a fist in the air as a tick marks began popping up all over Ibiki's face. Sakura was currently smashing her head repeatedly into the table while Sasuke's jaw just dropped open, hoping that wasn't their chance of passing that just flew into the garbage. Everyone else didn't know what to think, their brains just shutting down at the fact someone had just failed themselves, or so they thought.

"Don't even want to hear the tenth question, Uzumaki?" Ibiki asked, just barely keeping his composure.

"What ever do you mean, examiner-san?" He asked innocently.

"Whatever, I'll deal with you soon enough... The tenth question will now begin, but first I must explain the added rules... You all must choose to take the question."

"Choose?! What happens if we choose not to?!" The blond from yesterday questioned, frustration apparently starting to get to her.

"If you choose not to take this question then your points will be reduced to zero, making you and your teammates fail..." Loud protests started to break out. "...but if you choose to take the question and fail it then you will be forbidden to ever take the Chuunin exams again."

"What kind of bullshit rule is that!? There are guys here who have taken it before!" Kiba yelled while Akamaru barked his agreement, causing Ibiki to chuckle.

"You guys got unlucky. This year it's my rules. Alright, let the tenth question begin. Those of you who do not wish to take it please raise your hands." Slowly but surely, people did so. The tension was getting to all of them, except one certain blond who just had his pinky in his ear, looking on in boredom as people were led from the room. Sakura seemed like she was about to raise her hand and Naruto turned to look at her just in time to notice this. Seeing that she was on the edge of giving up he decided to give some words of encouragement.

"Maa maa, can't you just give us the damn question already? Next year it won't be your rules so we can do it again anyway."

"Hahahah! You have been irritating me the whole time you've been here, Gaki. It pisses me off that I have to pass you!"

The only thing that could be heard was Ibiki and Naruto, laughing merrily as if it was just another day.

"W-what about the tenth question?" Someone asked, breaking everyone else out of their shock.

"Ah, I forgot about all of you guys. Congratulations on passing, by the way."

"What about the tenth question!?" The same person asked, much more aggressively this time.

"Oh that? It never existed, or if you wanted to you could say that the choice you had to make was the tenth question."

"So the other 9 questions were completely pointless?!" Temari shouted, anger present on her features.

"No, No, they weren't pointless, they had already served their purpose... Your information gathering abilities, that purpose. First, as the rules explained, success on this test is based on the whole team doing well, putting pressure on each member to not mess things up, but the questions on this test could not be answered by a mere genin. Because of this most of you probably came to the conclusion that you had to cheat to get the answers. Basically, the premise of this test is to cheat. For targets we had two Chuunin mixed into the crowd who knew all the answers. They were to help you out. Obviously, those that cheated poorly failed."

"Then how come that guy didn't fail? He threw his test in the trash!" Others seemed to agree with this line of thought and were demanding that Naruto be thrown out of the exam. He turned to glare at them, but they flinched away when he did so. It seemed that they just wanted him out of the way early so they didn't have to fight him later on. A laugh threatened to break from him but he reigned it in and just let it out with deep breaths.

"The Gaki there didn't necessarily do anything wrong. I watched him for the whole test and he never marked down a single answer, or cheat. He kept all 10 of his points. That doesn't mean he did anything right however. I want you to remember this. Information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades or your village. Use it wisely."

"But I still don't understand the tenth question..." Temari spoke again, seemingly in defeat as her voice was much more subdued.

"Ah, but the tenth is the true purpose of this test. The 'take it' or 'don't take it' decision. Obviously it was a painful decision, choosing to fail now and try again or possibly lose the chance to ever try again. A true leap of faith. How about these two choices. Say you guys become Chuunin. Your mission is to steal a secret document but the amount of ninjas, their abilities, etc are unknown to you. Under those circumstances, do you accept the mission or not, out of fear for both you and your comrades safety. Can you avoid the dangerous mission? The answer is no. No matter what the danger there will be missions you cannot avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship. That is the ability needed to become a captain."

The speech was interrupted when something came flying in through the window.

In an instant a banner was strung up with kunai and Anko Mitarashi was standing proudly in front of it, Ibiki having been hidden behind the thing.

"Impressive." Naruto murmured, although he was sure that she was a bit early. His thoughts were confirmed as Ibiki peeked out from behind the banner and whispered that she had bad timing, making her blush profusely. She quickly got over her embarrassment, however, and introduced herself to them.

"Alright ya Gakis, now's not the time to be celebrating! I'm your second examiner Anko Mitarashi!" She took one look over the room and then looked at Ibiki, frustration evident on her face.

"78!? You let 26 teams pass Ibiki? I guess your test was too easy this time."

"There's quite a few good ones this year." He defended, amusement shown by the smirk he was carrying.

"Bah, whatever. By the time I'm done with them they'll be down to half." Most of the examinees shivered as the young women turned a hungry looking gaze upon them. "Ahh, I'm getting excited. I'll explain everything once we change pace, follow me to Training Ground 44, otherwise known as The Forest of Death."

With slight unease everyone stood from their chairs and followed the women out of the room, some of them with the feeling that they would never return...which they wouldn't.

* * *

I've gotten quite a few battle scars from my new cat.

Review and all that junk.


	16. Chapter 16

*Grumble Grumble* School... *Grumble Grumble* Homework... *Grumble Grumble* Teachers...

* * *

"You will soon learn why this place is called the Forest of Death." Anko announced, a sense of foreboding coming over the group of Genin as she cast her hungry gaze over all of them. It was as if she was seeing prey to be hunted rather than the mere children they really were. Naruto merely scoffed at the statement.

"Forest of Death, ne? Couldn't think of anything more original? How 'bout 'Piece of Shit Forest, Piece of Shit Name'?" He exclaimed dramatically, spreading his hands out in front of him as if he was making a rainbow.

It seemed his snark little comment made the woman rather angry, seeing as he had to trace the path that the Kunai she had thrown was taking. Seeing that it would only barely brush against his cheek he just let it happen, not even flinching as the blood splattered across the ground. He wasn't the least bit surprised when the same women appeared next to him in a Shunshin, licking the blood drizzling from the wound.

He was, however, surprised when a suspiciously snake like man simply appeared next to him, passing through both his and the women's notice with apparent ease. Holding the Kunai that had been thrown earlier was the man's ridiculously long tongue, curled around the handle carefully. The examiner already had another Kunai just under the tongue, ready to remove the offending appendage with a slight flick of the wrist.

"Here's your Kunai..." The man seemingly hissed out, a slightly arrogant smirk settled on his face.

"Why thank you...but you shouldn't sneak up behind me unless you want to end up dead." Naruto couldn't help but decide to make his presence known once more at this point.

"Dude... how well do you pleasure girls with that tongue?" He questioned innocently, although if the guy's looks were anything to go by he was probably gay. "Or guys..."

A firm frown spread across the other's face at the crude question and he simply turned around and stalked away. Anko on the other hand was snickering in amusement as she pulled away from the younger boy.

"The confident ones like you are always the ones who end up spilling their blood all over my forest." She cheekily smiled.

"Well, if you're the one who's there to lick my wounds I don't think I would mind spilling a little blood." Anko broke out into laughter at the jest and simply turned to the rest of the group with a wide grin on her face.

"Speaking of blood, I have something you all need to sign." She pulled a stack of papers from her trench coat. "These here are my alibis...I mean your waivers. There will be deaths in this one, and these sheets make it so that no one can pin the blame on me! Isn't that just dandy?" Giving no chance for Naruto to answer the rhetorical question she started to hand the papers out to people lining up, along with pens to sign.

Naruto glanced over the paper and scrawled his signature lazily at the bottom. After turning in the papers and meeting up with his group once again he sat on the ground, listening to Anko's explanation of the second exam. Taking small note of the map, which he memorized instantly, his eyes wandered over to the Grass nin trio. It seemed his gaze had lingered on the man from before a little to long as their eyes met, and he had to place a hand on his knee to stop it from shaking. Turning his gaze away quickly he jumped to his feet, surprising his two teammates.

In a low voice he spoke, his eyes narrowed.

"You see those guys from Grass over there?" He made a subtle motion in the direction of the other team, and they nodded their heads. "Don't attempt to fight them. It could wind up getting us killed..." An image of the man appeared before his eyes, and he shook his head to clear it away.

"Or worse." Both of his teammates looked a bit hesitant to agree with him, but didn't say anything against it.

* * *

They had stopped to rest about an hour into the exam. The screams they had been hearing were beginning to subside, and the break had come just in time seeing as Naruto suddenly felt the overwhelming need to take a piss.

"Ah, guys I'll be right back." He murmured, wandering off into the bushes to relieve himself. The sight he came back to was a bit of a surprise, seeing as Sasuke was in the middle of stabbing an enemy nin. The guy quickly retreated, blood pouring from the wound.

"What the fuck happened while I was gone?" Sasuke's head snapped in his direction, and he looked at his body up and down, checking for any differences that may point to it being another henge. Naruto, while understanding what the other boy was doing, decided to play with him a little bit.

"Uhh, while i don't have anything against gay people, I myself am not. Sorry to disappoint you Sasuke." He bowed his head in a mock apology, silently laughing while Sasuke's face turned red, either from embarrassment or anger.

"Definitely Naruto..." He heard the boy mumble under his breath, a scowl on his face.

Sakura came over to join them, a little pale from the 'brutality' that Sasuke apparently had shown when in reality it was just a minor wound that the guy had been given.

"Listen, I think that we should have a codeword in case we get separated again." Sasuke proposed, gaining a nod of approval from Naruto and an obvious agreement from Sakura.

"What kind of codeword?" She questioned, a curious expression on her face.

"The nin song, 'Nin Machine'. When asked for the codeword respond with 'A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared.'"

"OK, I got it." Sakura exclaimed, putting her good mind to use for once. Naruto made no mention that he got the codeword before the clearing they were in exploded and they all had to jump away.

* * *

Naruto brushed himself off and looked around, somehow a distance away from the original clearing. He turned back to the rising smoke plume, and began to head off in the direction, only to be blocked by something very large and scaly. His eyes met those of a absolutely massive snake, and for a second they stayed like that, staring each other down and waiting for the other to make the first move.

The snake's tongue flicked out, and with lightning fast movements it smashed the ground where he was. Naruto had to respond with equally quick movements, dodging to the side and counterattacking with a multiple of thrown shuriken and kunai that simply bounced off the creature's thick skin.

Sensing the vibrations in the air made the snake swat at him with it's tail which he twisted around carefully, scanning over the creature's body for any weak points.

Deciding on the typical weakness, the eyes, he threw a single kunai, fast enough for it to not be followed, right at the right eye. Unable to sense the vibrations of the small object or 'see' any heat signature from the weapon the snake made no movement to dodge and began to writhe and hiss in pain as the kunai buried itself into it's eye, right on the edge of the pupil. Not letting up Naruto followed the attack and launched himself towards the beast's head, avoiding the wild attacks sent at him as he approached.

Once close enough he grabbed the hilt and tore horizontally, slicing open the slit-like pupil. Twirling around and yanking the sharp object out he stabbed it into the opposite eye, repeating the slashing movement.

With both eyes ruined and in immense pain the snake furiously launched more attacks, much wilder and faster than before. One of them actually managed to graze his billowing vest before he dodged it. The snake's tongue flicked out again as it tracked him and Naruto used the moment to jump forward once more, still holding the kunai. He grabbed the outstretched-tongue in a fraction of a second, and with one quick movement, sliced it off.

Unable to see or smell the creature ran off, hoping to escape. Naruto watched it leave with a sigh, feeling a bit bad for basically condemning an innocent animal to death, but began to head off for where his teammates were once more, this time with no interruptions.

The sight he arrived to this time was no better than the last, however, as he saw one of the men that he had told the two to run from with both his teammates basically cornered.

"Well fuck..." He murmured, attracting the attention of everyone to him.

"Ah...Naruto-kun... you seem to have defeated that giant snake." The man spoke, amusement filling his voice. Another shiver ran up his spine and he spared a glance to his teammates. _So this guy controls snakes, eh?_

"Fuuuuuuuuck." He whispered under his breath, finally realizing just who he was speaking to.

"I will give you the scroll! Please... take it and leave us." Sasuke called, sharingan disappearing from his eyes. While it was a good plan, Naruto knew it would not work on this guy and snatched the scroll out of the air before appearing next to Sasuke.

"Don't. He would rather kill us and leave than take the scroll. If we somehow survive this I would rather we still had a chance to win..." He mumbled, sliding the scroll back into Sasuke's pocket before turning to Orochimaru-in-disguise.

Sasuke closed his eyes and bowed his head solemnly, having somewhat seen this as their coming death. A short laugh left Orochimaru.

"You're right. I could just kill you here and take your scroll." He bit his thumb, and smeared it across the tattoo on his arm. Another sigh left Naruto as he pulled off his vest and let it fall to the floor, stretching his arms as he watched the summoning.

"You guys, take the scroll and get out of here. I'll hold him off for as long as I can. Get to one of the examiners and tell them that Orochimaru is back in Konoha. They'll know what you mean." They both looked at him in shock, but made no move to leave.

"B-but Kakashi-sensei said that those that aban-" Sakura started.

"Fuck Kakashi-nii for now. He isn't here to save us, and if I allow you to try and fight this guy that would basically be the same as killing you." Shocked once more at the use of the -nii suffix they turned and began leaping off, Sasuke stopping to put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You told me at one point to survive. Now its your turn. Do the same for us. We'll be right back." Naruto grinned as Sasuke instantly turned away and began to jump from tree to tree, moving faster than he ever had before.

Orochimaru frowned and made a move to go after them, only to be intercepted by Naruto.

"Ah, ah, ah. I'm not dead yet." Naruto grinned, pushing the missing nin back before leaping back to put some more distance between them. "So I guess you must be after Sasuke then... but for what, I wonder..."

Orochimaru's frown deepened at Naruto's keen observation and stepped up his speed to a point that Naruto could still follow, but not react fast enough to dodge. He put his hands up to block and managed to catch most of the attacks.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat, Naruto-kun, it would put a damper in my plans if I allow my prey to escape..." Naruto felt a kick land to his ribs and was sure a few of them were break, but he didn't move or let the other man pass.

_Ne, Kurama, could __**really **__use a bit of your chakra right about now..._

_**I already told you to just take it if you need to!**_

_Yeah, yeah, but I feel like I'm stealing if I do that! Plus I can't control it all that well, remember, the whole insanity thing I got going on? _

**_Ah... I guess that may have slipped my mind..._**

_Dumbass fox._

Naruto instantly felt the new surge of power and used his now enhanced speed to start to dodge the attacks, surprising Orochimaru.

"Interesting...maybe I can stay and chat for a while, Naruto-kun..." He smiled, curiosity peaked at this new revelation. Naruto returned the smile with a grin as he slipped into his fighting stance.

"Sorry Orochimaru. I've already told Sasuke I'm not gay, and I'm not to eager to see exactly what that tongue can do."

* * *

So yeah, this chapter took a long time, mostly because of school but partly because of my own procrastination. Sorry 'bout that!

Review and all that junk.


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